
Class 

Book I 

Copyright N° 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



BIBLE MASTERY 



To acquire a comprehensive knowledge of the Bible, one 

must READ it to get an extensive view of the 

subject matter, and STUDY it in order 

to secure an intensive grasp 

of its truths. 



By 
Rev. STERLING N. BROWN, A. M. D. D, 



City of Washington : 
Merchants' Printing Co., Printers, 1207 H St. N. W. 

1907. 



&°X\ 



■^v 



UBRAKY of CONGRESS 
Iwo Cooles Received 

SEP 24 *90f 

n CooyntW Entry 

yOUSS^ XXC, Nil, 
COPY B. 



1Z 



//».? 



Copyrig-ht, 1907, 

By REV. STERLING N. BROWN, A. M. D. D. 

Washing-ton, D. C. 



5 



DEDICATED 
To that compa?iy of young men 
whom the author has instructed 
in the English Bible from time 
to time, during a period of four - 
teen years , at the Theological 
Seminary , and to all seekers after 
a comprehejisive knowledge of 
God's word. 



COMMENDATIONS, 



Bible Mastery, by the Rev. Dr. Sterling 
N. Brown, has been prepared with a definite 
object in view, namely, to serve the needs of 
students of the Word who desire in one vol- 
ume accurate and fresh information relating 
to the Bible. The book is the outcome of 
practical work in the instruction of young 
ministers, and the information gathered has 
been placed in such a form as to help them 
in their preparation to become intelligent ex- 
pounders of the Word of Life. We commend 
the book and wish for it a large sale, 

Wilbur P. Thirkield, D.D. LL. D m 

President of Howard University, 
Washington, D. C. 



The book, entitled Bible Mastery, pre- 
pared by Rev. Sterling N. Brown, D. D., 
will be very helpful to the intelligent, inter- 
ested 'and profitable study of the Bible by 
all, and an excellent text book for schools. 

Isaac Clark, D. D., 
Dean of School of Theology, 
Howard University. 



VI 

The author has collected a vast number of 
facts, concerning the origin, transmission 
and character of the Christian Scriptures, 
and analyzed and methodized them in a con- 
densed and very convenient form, both to 
interest the general reader and to inform the 
Bible student. 

Prof. F, P. Woodbury, D. D., 
Howard University, School of Theology. 



Vll 

CONTENTS. 



Page 
Reading the Bible 1 

(1) Misreaders : Routine, Formal, Frag- men tary and 
spasmodic readers. 

(2) Profitable reading, Dependent upon Seclusion 
and Quiet, the Praying- Spirit, Rapid Reading, Regu- 
larly, Consecutively, Chronologically and as a 
spiritual book. 

Studying the Bible 5 

Four ways: (1) Asa specialty. 

(2) Comprehensively. 

(3) By Orientalisms. 

(4) Critically. 

Part I.— Scope of the Boole 11 

Biblical Facts. (1) Titles: a. In the Bible itself ; b. 
in common use. 

(2) The Writers: Number, some Prominent Writers, 
Occupations. 

(3) The Languages. 

(4) The divisions: a. The simplest, b. The Jewish, 
c. Our present grouping: Law, History, Poetry, and 
Prophecy, Hebrew poetry, Prophetic order, Specific 
prophetic groups. 

Important Questions 26 

The Antiquity, Genuineness, the Authenticity, the 
Authority, the Inspiration, the Design, the Canon, 
the Apocrypha, the Bible Text, Biblical Criticism, 
Bible Chronology, Bible Lauds. 

Chronological Table 63 

General Outlines 67 

Divisions: Simplest, Groups, Division of Books, by 
Chapters and Verses, Book Outlines of Old and New 
Testaments. 

Historical Tables 98 

Part II Bible History 99 

Seven Periods. 1. Period of Human Race: Crea- 
tion, the Godhead, Extent of the Six Days' Creation, 
State of Earth Before Creation, Method of Creation 



Vlll 

Study of Days, The New Creation, The Fall, 
Adam's Probation, The Tempter, The Threefold 
Temptation. Sin, Consequences of theFall, Redemp- 
tion, The Deluge, Earliest Form of Living", Extent 
of Delug-e, Cain and Abel, Their Wives, Dates of 
Deluge, Origin of Nations, Tower of Babel, The 
Dispersion, Japheth, Ham and Shem. 

2. Period of Chosen Family: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob 
and Joseph. 

3. Period of the Israelitish People: Moses, Passover, 
Exodus, The Law, Tabernacle and Theocracy, Wil- 
derness Wanderings, Scope of the Law, Joshua and 
Conquest, The Eastern Altar, The Judges. 

4. Period of the Israelitish Kingdom: Saul, Samuel, 
Saul's Campaigns, David, His Tribe, Family, Birth 
place, Training, Appearance, Character, Activities, 
Trials and Writings. Solomon's Life and Character. 

Tiie Divided Kingdom 175 

The Kings of Israel, Elijah and Elisha, The Moabite 
Stone. 

Tlie Kingdom of Judah 190 

The Kings of Judah, The Four Religious Periods, 
The Prophets of the Time, Battle of Megiddo, 
Jonah, The Final Decline, The First Invasion. 
Contemporary History 205 

Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Media, Phoenicia, Carthage, 
Greece and Rome. 

Period 5.— Period of Jewish Province £10 

Tlie Captivities 311-312 

The Kestoration 213 

Interval Between ihe Old and New Testaments 21-t 

Period 6. -The Life of Christ 31T 

General Aspects: Short, passed in Palestine, among 
the common people, active life. 

Seven Periods— His Thirty Years Preparation, Year 
of Obscurity, of Popularity, of Opposition, Week of 
Passion, Day of Crucifixion, the Forty Days After 
the Resurrection. According to Subjects: His 
Private Life, His Preparation for the Public Minis- 
try, Prominent Sermons, His Conferences with 
Special Parties, His Miracles, His Parables, His 
Sufferings, His Seven Sayings on the Cross, His 
Triumphs. 



IX 

Period 7.— Tlie Apostolic Church 229 

Church at Jerusalem, of Palestine, of the Gentiles; 
Paul's Missionary Journeys, His Epistles, The 
Church. 

The Institutions of t lie Bible 233 

The Altar, the Tabernacle, the Temple, the Syna- 
gogue, the Sacred Year, The Two Sacraments. 
Personal and Official Institutions: The Priest, the 
Prophet, the Scribe, the Apostles. 

Tables of Israelitish People 238 

Tables of Jewish Province 24:4: 



PREFACE. 



JTlHE purpose of this book is to give a 
-JLp comprehensive view of the Bible, by 
noting its salient facts, general divisions, out- 
line study by books, and special studies in 
Bible History and in allied topics. 

Its interest centers in the fact that this one 
volume embraces in its general scope the 
broadest view of Bible study, and, in that 
by its arrangement and classification of the 
essential features, a reasonable mastery of 
the Bible may, with growing pleasure, be 
acquired. 

The reason for the preparation of this book 
is, that for several years as teacher of the 
English Bible in the Theological Department 
of Howard University, I have not found in 
any one volume just what seemed to be need- 
ed by ordinary Bible students. The plan of 
studies herein given has been tested in my 
classes for fourteen years, and it is with en- 
thusiastic assurance that I commend it as a 
sure means to a comprehensive knowledge 
of the Bible as a whole. 

These lessons are more of a compilation 
from many sources than any attempt at origin - 
ality. It has been my aim to prepare a com- 
pendium of the whole Bible in the briefest 



PREFACE. 

possible form comporting with clearness anci 
general interest. Many subjects are included, 
but not treated exhaustively. A general view 
of the whole , and not the details, are em- 
phasized. The Bible itself is to be studied 
in connection with the text book. 

Once getting a clear view of the Bible in its 
entirety, and then in its related parts, the de- 
tails will be a pleasant life study. Much of the 
failure to become interested in the study of 
the Bible is due to the fact that it is too often 
considered in its detached, rather than re- 
lated parts. As Bible Mastery may be con- 
sidered a composite production; and, as 
special credit is not elsewhere given in the 
book, this general statement of indebtedness 
to others is here made. 

Trusting that this work may lead to a 
closer fellowship with God, through a knowl- 
edge of His Word, — I send it forth. 

Sterling N. Brown. 




BIBLE MASTERY. 



To acquire a comprehensive knowledge of the Bible, one 

must READ it to get an extensive view of the 

subject matter, and STUDY it in order 

to secure an intensive grasp 

of its truths. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



READING THE BIBLE. 

The misreaders of the Bible may be classed 
as follows: 

(1) Those known as routine readers who 
run over so much of the Bible, daily or weekly, 
according to a set task. They read after a 
plan rather than to get the "sense and un- 
derstanding" of the word. (Neh. VIII : 8.) 

(2) Then there are the formal readers of 
the Bible, as noted at too many family altars. 
The father, as head of the family takes up 
the Bible, opens it at a place marked at the 
close of a previous reading, and hastens 
through the chapter or selection without 
pause, comment or thought, unless it be to 
turn over to look for the end. 

(3) There are also partial and fragmentary 
readers who confine their reading to certain 



2 BIBI.K MASTERY 

portions of the Bible, to the utter neglect of 
the larger part of it. Some never read the Old 
Testament at all, but confine themselves to 
the New Testament; and some even limit 
their readings to the Gospels. They get some 
truth but it is out of its broad relations. 

(4) The periodic and spasmodic reader of 
the Bible can not hope to "show" himself 
"approved of God, a workman that need- 
eth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the 
word of truth" 2 Tim. 2 : 15. 

Such a reader takes up the Bible only by 
spells "or from some new resolution' ' at be- 
ginning of the year. This kind of reading is 
just a little better than no reading at all. 

Profitable reading: of the Bible is measur- 
ably dependent upon certain definite condi- 
tions: 

(1) Seclusion and quiet are helpful. The 
fear of interruption distracts the mind, and 
so does a feeling of haste. 

(2) The praying spirit which seeks Divine 
guidance, instruction and blessing is a neces- 
sity. 

(3) It is well to read the Scriptures rapidly 
just as any other book is read — in order to 
get a survey of the whole rather than to seek 
the hidden meaning of all one sees. A bird's 
eye view will intensify the interest on special 
parts. 



HEADING THE BIBI.K 6 

(4) It should be read regularly. 1. The 
Bible is a large book, containing more matter 
than most volumes of its size, since printed 
in small type. Its type is about the same as 
that of the usual news columns in the daily 
paper. By reading seven pages of the New 
Testament daily it can be read through in one 
month; while the whole Bible can be read in 
less than a year, by reading only three pages 
daily. 2. A little reading each day is far better 
than a large amount read occasionally. We 
have daily soul needs for which the Bible has 
ample supply. With the Psalmist, we may 
also say "Thy word is" daily "a lamp unto 
my feet and a light unto my pathway." (Ps. 
119:105.) 

(5) The Bible may be read consecutively. 
Starting with Genesis the reader may go in 
order, straight through to Revelation, daily 
taking up the Book where it was previously 
dropped. By this method the Bible can be 
easily read through, and if pursued thought- 
fully, excellent results, in general knowledge 
of the Book, will follow. 

(6) It is very helpful to read \X.chronclogi- 
cally. The Bible is not arranged in precise 
chronological order though its books are not 
far out of the line of events. 

From Genesis to Kings the chronological 
order is in the main observed ; but the poetical 



4 BIBI.E MASTERY 

books are to be inserted in many places. 
The best book of which I know as a guide 
through the six Books beginning with 1 Sam- 
uel and ending with 2 Chronicles is Dr. George 
O. Little's "The Royal Houses of Israel and 
Judah," (Funk and Wagnalls Company, New 
York). This is an interwoven history with 
a harmony of parallel passages. It is wor- 
thy a place in every Bible student's library. 
For the chronology of the New Testament 
"The Reference Passage Bible" by J. N. 
Johns, of the Alpha Publishing Company, 
Baltimore, and Stevens' and Burton's New 
Testament Harmony we commend as among 
the best. 

For the Epistles read the "Life of Paul" 
by Farrar or Conybeare and Howson. A 
Bagster's reference Bible also has a table 
showing the date commonly assigned to each 
book. 

(7) The reader of the Bible may expect the 
highest profit therefrom, only when he recog- 
nizes it as a spiritual book and in sympathy 
with its spirit is willing to obey its teachings. 
While a great deal in it may be understood by 
any one as to its literary form, historical nar- 
rations and ethical teaching there is much that 
can be only spiritually discerned. The "pro- 
fessional" objector or "tireless" critic need 
not expect to understand it. 



STUDYING THE BIBLE 5 

BIBLE STUDY. 

Studying the Bible means more than sim- 
ply reading it. The significance here em- 
ployed embraces a close and thoughtful re- 
search for the deep things of God and a careful 
laying hold of the fundamental truths, with 
a proper systematising of the contents of the 
book. 

We can profitably study scripture in four 
ways. 

I. As a specialty. The Jews were taught 
from childhood to study the Scripture as a 
constant and prominent duty. When they 
sat in their homes, walked by the wayside, 
lay down for rest, or arose to go, the word of 
the Lord was to constitute the theme of their 
conversation. Scripture mottoes were to 
adorn their houses; and passages from the 
law, like amulets, were to be worn upon the 
person. Their schools were for the study of 
the sacred writings, and their children were 
to be ambitious to become doctors of the law. 
(Deut. VI: 6-9.) 

Never was there greater demand for special - 
ists in the professional and business world 
than now, and certainly the preeminent need 
among christians is to be able to tell well 
God's remedy for sin and to lead man to an 
appreciation of its efficacy. The Bible alone 
gives information concerning heaven and hell. 



6 BIBLE MASTERY 

Bible study should be a life study , a patient 
study, a prayerful study. It sometimes re- 
quires years over one passage before its mean- 
ing is discovered. 

II. Study Comprehensively. There are two 
general methods. The fragmentary which 
matches a passage here or there at hap -haz- 
ard, of ten dislocating it from its vital connec- 
tions, and the concrete which necessarily car- 
ries with it the larger and logical view of the 
subject matter. Isolated precepts and prom- 
ises are like dew and honey to the soul and 
marrow and strength to the bones. But the 
broader study for * Edification' ' means build- 
ing up in the truth. 

A comprehensive course must include the 
Structure, Geography, Institutions, Doctrines 
and Times of the Bible, together with many 
allied topics. 

This comprehensive course may be studied 
from at least seven distinct view points. 

1. As literature. It was the literature of 
a great people. The literary form of its prose, 
poetry, drama or proverbs often has an impor- 
tant bearing on its meaning. Such a book 
as the Song of Solomon must be arranged in 
its parts before it can be understood. 

The analysis of a book or part is also in- 
cluded in its literary study. 



STUDYING THE BIBLE 7 

2. As a Historical Study the Bible requires 
very close attention. Its history is the most 
important in the world and its doctrinal teach - 
ings are dependent upon a clear knowledge 
of this history. This includes all facts of 
every kind. 

3. The Ethical Study of the Bible reveals 
the standard book of life and conduct for 
mankind. Its teachings as to right and wrong 
are very clear. 

4. The Doctrinal Study of the Bible has a 
special plea. We are dependent upon the 
Bible for what to believe about man, God, sin, 
hereafter and salvation. These doctrines of 
the Bible are to the religious system what 
bones are to the body. 

5. The Prophetical Study of the Bible is 
very important, and yet most of all neglected. 
One seventh of the Bible is predictive proph- 
ecy and tells of the story of the future. 

6. The Spiritual Study of the Bible involves 
study of the symbols of the Bible and its typi- 
cal teachings. The spiritual truth of the Bible 
is the very life of the soul and should be sought 
for with earnest purpose. There are special 
portions of the Scripture that are valuable for 
devotional meetings and private needs. The 
Psalms and Gospels are much used to this end. 

7. The Study of the Bible for practical uses 
is what every christian worker specially 



8 BIBLE MASTERY 

needs. The Bible is the "sword of the Spirit/ ' 
It is a book of lessons in Christian Service, 
and teaches how to save and lead men to 
Christ. To know it well will make clear 
how to answer the inquirer's difficulties, and 
how to meet the various classes needing spir- 
itual help. We must learn, if we would get 
what God would teach us in Bible study, not 
to be afraid to sound its depths. The Scrip- 
tures themselves counsel us to go on to per- 
fection in the knowledge of truth. 

III. Study the Orientalisms in order to un- 
derstand, not specially the movements and 
inscriptions of antiquity which are rarely ac- 
cessible to the ordinary student, but those 
allusions to oriental custom which frequently 
constitute the basis of Scripture phraseology. 

Note a few examples : 

"Ye shall not round the corners of your 
heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of 
thybeard."(Lev.XIX:27.) 

Baal worshippers rounded their beard and 
hair to make their faces look like the sun, 
Israel was to avoid the very appearance of 
idolatry. 

"Come now, and let us reason together, 
saith the Lord : though your sins be as scar- 
let, they shall be as white as snow; though 
they be red like crimson, they shall be as 
wool. ,, Isa. 1:18. 



STUDYING TEK BIBLE 9 

A piece of cloth, tongue shaped , was tied 
upon the neck of the Scapegoat, called the 
scarlet tongue. If God accepted the atone- 
ment, this red cloth was said to turn white. 
No such change took place for forty years be- 
fore the destruction of Jerusalem. 

"O wretched man that I am! who shall de- 
liver me from the body of this death ?" Rom. 
VII :24. 

The truth concerning the bondage in sin 
is intensified by the orientalism. It was a 
horrid custom among the despotic rulers of 
Paul's day to punish certain criminals by 
binding them fast to a corpse. Whether 
they walked, or lay down, or ate, they bore 
about with them the disgusting putrefying 
carcass. To this fearful burden the Apostle 
likens the sins of the old nature; dead, yet 
ever present. 

Thus the orientalisms of Scripture are fre- 
quently profitable to unfold and intensify the 
doctrine of the text. 

IV. Study the Bible Critically, if possible in 
the original tongues. By the use of a variety 
of translations, with several of these at com- 
mand, and referring from one to the other, 
many shades of meaning will be discovered, 
and by this method the teaching of the most 
obscure passage may be made clear. A few 
examples will illustrate the importance of 



10 BIBLE MASTERY 

studying underneath the English text. Take 
2 Tim. 2 : 15: 

"Rightly dividing the word of truth. " 
"Rightly treating the word of truth.' ' 
"Handling rightly the word of truth/ ' 
"Cutting straight the word of truth. " 

From these various shades of meaning new 
light is thrown upon the text. The terms 
here used are sacrificial, and refer to the or- 
derly manner in which the sacrifices were cut 
up for the altar, L,ev. 1. 

The Christian is God's priest to minister 
out the word of the Lord. He must know 
how to "give meat in due season." Matt. 
24: 45. There is to be Jehovah's portion; 
the L,evite's portion, and the officer's portion. 
Sometimes the delicate surgery of reproof is 
committed to the Christian : a dislocated 
limb from the body is to be restored. (Gal. 
VI: 1.) 

A close study for the meaning of the words 
of the Bible is very important, and since all 
can not study in the original tongues some 
critical exegetical work should be followed. 
Any one of the best critical commentaries 
may be of special help. We heartily com- 
mend Vincent's "Word studies in the New 
Testament.' ' 



BIBMCAI, FACTS 11 



PART? I. 



SCOPE OF THE BOOK. 

The intelligent well disposed student may 
get a reasonable mastery of the Bible by fol- 
lowing out the plan of study herein indicated. 
It is proposed in part Firsts to give certain 
Biblical facts and genet al analysis) and in part 
Second, to present outline studies in Bible 
history, and in part Third, to give illustrative 
studies in the Bible itself. 

BIBLICAL FACTS. 

I. The Titles. In opening a book we should 
first read the title and then look at the table 
of contents to see the theme and plan and 
scope of the book. The Bible has no table 
of contents, but there is a list of its books 
printed with most editions, and an examina- 
tion of this will give some idea of the plan and 
scope of the Bible. 
Names applied to it, 
1. In the Bible itself: 

{a) As from God— the "Word of God." 
Eph. 6: 17. 

^(b) As a spoken revelation — "Oracles' ' 
Acts 7 : 38 ; Rom. 3: 2. 



12 BIBLE MASTERY 

(c) As a written revelation — "Scriptures" 
Luke 24 : 45 -46; John 5 :39. 

(d) From its contents — "Uw and Proph- 
ets," Luke 24: 44. 

(e) Figurative name — "Seed," Luke 8:11, 
"Sword" Eph. 6 : 17; "Milk and Meat," Heb. 
5: 12-14,1 Peter2:2 "Honey" Ezek.3:3. 
2, In common use : 

(a) Bible, This term is from the Greek 
word, Biblia, which means books. It was 
applied first to the collected books of the Old 
Testament. When the canon of revelation 
was completed the name was given to the 
collected books of both the Old and New Tes- 
taments. Chrysostom, the "golden mouthed" 
bishop of Constantinople, in the fourth cen- 
tury, regarded the whole collection as one 
book and so called it the "Book" or as at 
present, the "Bible." The eatly Christians 
always spoke of them as "The Books" rather 
than as "The Book," Technically they were 
correct since the Bible is a collection of books, 
and yet the blending of spirit and unity of 
purpose are such that from the 13th century 
they have been spoken of in the singular num - 
ber, as a single book — the Bible. This sin- 
gular number betokens the Bible as one voice 
speaking to us, not many voices. The title 
"The Bible" first appears in English in Cov- 
erdale's translation. (1535 A. D.) 



BIBLICAL FACTS 13 

(b) Holy Bible. The term Holy indicates 
alike the character and design of the book. 

(c) Canonical Scriptures. The word "Can- 
on originally meant a straight reed for 
measuring, hence a rule, a standard. As ap- 
plied to the Bible, it is the collection of 
books which constitute the original written 
rule of the Christian faith' ' (Westcott) as ac- 
cepted by the early christian churches. 

(d) Testaments or Covenants. The latter 
word is the better word. In 2 Cor. 3 : 14, 16 
Paul writes of the "Old Covenant' ' and min- 
isters of the "New Covenant/ ' By the end of 
the 2d century these expressions were estab- 
lished to distinguish the Jewish and Chris- 
tian Scriptures. 

The word ? testamentum,was used in trans- 
lating into Latin, and from this comes our 
English word, Testament. The word Cove- 
nants gives a clearer idea of God's two dis- 
tinct agreements with the human race (Heb. 
8:4-13. 

The word Covenant was a term applied, in 
the first instance, to the relation itself be- 
tween God and his people, afterwards to the 
books in which the records of the relation are 
contained and preserved. 

The Old Testament applies to that part of 
the Bible which contains the record of God's 
Covenant with his people under the former 



14 BIBLE MASTERY 

dispensation. It is the history of Redemption 
from Adam to Christ. 

The New Testament embraces those books 
which record God's latter Covenant with his 
people by which the Christian's heavenly in- 
heritance is sealed to them through the Lord 
Jesus Christ. 

II. Writers, 

(1) The number cannot be definitely fixed 
as the writers of some books are unknown, 
and others, like the Psalms, doubtless had a 
number of writers. The Bible, as a whole, 
is the work of from thirty to forty different 
authors of every degree of cultivation, and of 
different orders. 

(2) Some Prominent Writers were Moses, 
David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel in the 
Old Testament and Matthew, Mark, Luke, 
John, Paul, James, Peter and Jude in New 
Testament period. 

(3) Occupations. These were of great va- 
riety, Moses was a statesman; David, a poet 
and king; Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekielwere 
prophets; Matthew, a tax-gatherer; Luke, a 
physician; Peter and John were fishermen and 
apostles; Putil was a scholar and missionary. 

Ill* The Languages. 

(l) Hebrew and Aramaic* The Old Tes- 
tament was almost all written in Hebrew, the 
native language of the Canaanites, and adop- 



BIBLICAL FACTS 15 

ted by the family of Abraham after he en- 
tered the land. The following parts were 
written in Aramaic, a language much like 
the Hebrew: Dan, 2: 4-7; 28; Ezra 4:8-6: 
18; 7 : 12-16 and Jen 10: 11. 

(2) Greek. All of the New Testament was 
written in Greek, the language of the educated 
world during the early centuries of the Chris- 
tian era. 

(3) Where a?id when written. The Bible 
was written in widely different places in the 
center of Asia; on the sands of Arabia, in the 
deserts of Judea; in the porches of the Tem- 
ple; in the school cf the Prophets, the theo- 
logical seminaries of Bethel and Jericho; in 
the Palaces of Babylon; on the idolatrous 
banks of Chebar, and in the midst of Wes- 
tern civilization. It was commenced not later 
than in the year of the world 2,500, and 
was completed : n the year of the world 4 100. 
In other words, it was begun not later than 
1500 years before Christ, and was brought to 
a close about A. D. 100 — the period during its 
construction being about 1600 years. 

IV, The Divisions of the Bible* 

(l) The simplest division of the Bible is in- 
to the Old and New Testaments. The former 
contains thirty -nine books; the latter, twenty - 
seven books; in all sixty -six books. These are 
not arranged in chronological order. 



16 



BIBLE MASTERY 



(2 ) Convenient Groups of the Old testament. 
a. The Jewish division (as arranged in the 
Hebrew Bible) is as follows : 

f Genesis 
j Exodus 

L The Law \ Leviticus 

Numbers 
I Deuteronomy 



II. The Prophets: 



Former 



Major 
Latter 

Minor - 
III. The Writings: 



f Joshua 

! Judges 

J 1 & 2 Samuel 

1 1 & 2 Kings 

! Isaiah 
Jeremiah 
Ezekiel 
f The Twelve 
1 Minor Prophets 



a 



! Psalms 
Proverbs 
Job 
f The Song of Soloman 
I Ruth. 
- - - \ Lamentations. 
| Eclesiastes. 
I Esther. 
f Daniel 
\ Ezra 

I Nehemiah 

I I & 2 Chronicles 

{b) Our present grouping is as follows: 
Law, 5 books; History. 12 books; Poetry, 
5 books; Prophecy, 17 books. 



c - - 



PROPHETICAL GROUPS 19 

is found as in Ps. 28 : 4. Three or more 
parallel clauses also occur. (Prov. 1 : 2 and 
Psa. 103:3-5.) 

The third form of parallelism is callen syn- 
thetic, where one clause is necessary to com- 
plete the sense of the other. (Prov. 15 : 17; 
21 : 2). Our limits will not allow a further 
pursuit of this subject. It may be added that, 
according to the theme and divisions, Hebrew 
poetry is lyric, as in Psalms; epic, as in Job; 
didactic, as in Proverbs; pastoral, or idyllic, 
as in Canticles; and rhetorical, as in the earlier 
prophets. 

There is a sense, in which, between song 
and poetic statement, or prose poetry, the 
whole Bible is itself a grand poem. Its fig- 
urative language, its simplicity, yet boldness 
of thought together with its high moral tone 
and constant religious reference emphasize 
this unique truth. 

The Poetical Books are five : Job, Psalms, 
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon. 
Their great feature is wisdom of the many 
kinds. They represent the essence of the 
wisdom of the Old Testament. This in- 
cludes both religion and the philosophy of 
practical life, as well as the then revealed 
theology of the times. 

The last group is called the Prophetical 
Books. These are sixteen in number, the 



20 BIBLE MASTERY 

Lamentations of Jeremiah being usually con- 
sidered as an appendix to his predictions. 

They are commonly divided into two 
groups: 1. The Major Prophets, Isaiah, Jere- 
miah, Ezekiel, Daniel. 2. The Minor Proph- 
ets, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, 
Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Hag- 
gai, Zechariah, Malachi. They are called 
Major and Minor, or Greater and Lesser, 
not from personal consideration, but in ref- 
erence to the extent of their writings re- 
spectively. They are not arranged in chro- 
nological order. 

To get a clear view of the prophetical 
books, it is important to understand the words 
prophet and prophecy . Commonly these words 
are restricted to the prediction of future 
events, not discernable by mere human sa- 
gacity. Their use in scripture, however, is not 
so limited. A Prophet is one who speaks 
as God's messenger, inspired and commis- 
sioned to communicate His will to man. 
Thus, Abraham is called a prophet (Gen. 
XX. 7, where the word first occurs), and 
so is Aaron (Exod. VII, 1) although neither 
Abraham nor Aaron are known specially as 
predictors of future events. Daniel proved 
himself to be a prophet by telling Nebuchad- 
nezzar what his dream had been, as much as 
by interpreting it; and the woman of Samaria 



GROUPS OF THK BIBLE 17 

First, the Law Books or the Pentateuch are 
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and 
Deuteronomy. These were once all one book 
and are still called " Moses " as we say 
"Shakespeare." Sometimes they are called 
"The Law" or "The Law of Moses." The 
great feature is law though there is some very 
important history. 

The word "Pentateuch" means in Greek 
' ■ The Five Volumes"or the ' 'Fivefold Work' ' 
from "Penta." five, and "Teuchos," a roll or 
volume. This name was given by the sev- 
enty Greek scholars who gave to the world 
the Septuagint version, a Greek translation 
from the Hebrew. 

The second group is known as "The His- 
torical Books." They treat mainly of his- 
tory. They are twelve in number, Joshua, 
Judges, Ruth, First and Second Samuel, 
First and Second Kings, First and Second 
Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther, It 
will assist in learning these to make three 
groups of them, remembering that those in 
the second group are to be doubled, and that 
the first and last groups end with a female 
name. There are several devices for learning 
the names of the books of the Bible. 

The third group consists of the Poetical 
Books* These books are written in poetical 
form, not rhyme of sound as in poetry, but 
rhyme of meaning. 



18 BIBLE MASTERY 

The true characteristic of Hebrew poetry 
is what has been called parallelism, which 
consists in such an arrangement of the words 
composing the sentence or verse, that when 
complete, it resolves itself into two or more 
symmetrical measures, generally of nearly 
equal length, between which there is a certain 
relation of resemblance, correspondence, or 
contrast, as to thought, or language, or both. 
Bible scholars recognize three special funda- 
mental forms of parallelism, which exist, 
often separately, and sometimes in combina- 
tion. 

The first form is the antithetic, when two 
parallel members are contrasted in meaning, 
a form peculiarly adapted to didactic poetry, 
specially found in the Book of Proverbs. 

"The memory of the just is blessed; 
But the name of the wicked shall rot." 
(Prov. 10: 7.) 

Each clause consists of three words. One 
pair of words correspond in meaning, as here, 
Memory and Name : while the others are in 
contrast, Just and Wicked; is Blessed and 
Shall Rot. Sometimes clauses are to be sup- 
plied mutually from each other. (Prov. 10 :1.) 

The second form is synonymous, where the 
same general thought is repeated in two or 
more clauses. (Ps. 2:4. 5 : 12. Job. 3 : 3. 
Isai. 1 :10.) Compound synonymous couplet 



ORAL AND WRITING PROPHETS 23 

scribed by Him, Hence the prophets are 
called * 'Seers" and their communications often 
called visions, or things seen. It is not nec- 
essary to believe that even the prophets them - 
selves always understood the full meaning of 
their predictions, (II Peter 1 : 20). " Know- 
ing this first that no prophecy of the scrip- 
ture cometh of private interpretation," that 
is, is not necessarily a prognostication made 
by a man knowing what he means when he 
utters it, — "for prophecy was never sent after 
the will of man; but men had utterance from 
God, being moved by the Holy Spirit." Still, 
whether the prophets understood their own 
predictions or not we must not doubt that 
their messages were from God directly to the 
people. The Jewish prophets flourished, be- 
ginning with the reign of Jeroboam II of Israel , 
from Jonah to Malachi — during a period of 
about 400 years. 

They are sometimes designated as the oral 
and the writi?ig prophets. The first term 
would refer to prophets like Elijah and EHsha 
who did not commit their teachings to writ- 
ing. 

The prophets were divided between Israel 
and Judah — Israel seeming to have the larger 
number, though only three — Hosea, Jonah, 
and Amos are represented in the canon; and 
Amos was a prophet of Judah, though he 



24 BIBLE MASTERY 

prophesied to Israel. All the others were 
prophets of Judah, though directing their dis- 
courses to both peoples* 

SPECIFIC GROUPS. 

(1) Before the Captivity, Jonah, Amos, 
Hosea, Isaiah, Micah, Nahum and Zepha- 
uiah. 

(2) During the Captivity : Jeremiah, Hab- 
akkuk, Obadiah, Kzekiel and Daniel. 

(3) After the Restoration: Joel, Haggai, 
Zechariah and Malachi. 

NOTE. 

1 . These prophets declare that God is holy, 
merciful to Israel and demands righteousness 
in His people, Isa. 6: 3; 55: 6, 7; Micah 7 : 
18-20. 

2. That He is certain to punish national 
sins, particularly oppression, idolatry and 
licentiousness, Isa. 1:1-20; 10: 5-27; Hosea 
4; Malachai 3: 1-15 

3. That righteousness and peace will finally 
be established throughout the world Isa. 32 : 
15-18; 35; 52 : 9, 10. 

4. Note that by the influence of the proph- 
ets Israel was saved for God. Hosea 12; 
13; Exod. 13: 3. This resulted because 
the true God was revealed and honored, truth 
and purity exalted and "righteousness and 



FUNCTIONS OF THE PROPHET 21 

very properly called Christ a prophet, be- 
cause He "told her all things that ever she 
did." It is thus apparent that the prophets 
were more than foretellers of things fu- 
ture. Their revelations embraced the past 
and the present, as well as the future; and 
they comprehended those general moral prin- 
ciples which are of universal application 
throughout all time. 

The prediction of future events, however, 
is unquestionably one of the most impres- 
sive and important functions of the pro- 
phetic office. Such predictions afford, espec- 
ially in their progressive fulfillment, one 
of the most convincing proofs of the Divine 
authority of the men who uttered them. They 
would naturally be treated by mankind with 
more deference than any other inspired mes- 
sages. A prophecy, God's message, was of 
the nature of a miracle, and it would be so 
regarded by thore to whom it was addressed. 
Prophets were confined to no tribe, to no lo- 
cality and to no calling, The order was not 
restricted to the male sex alone; Miriam, De- 
borah and Huidah were shining names in 
this goodly fellowship. The authority of the 
prophet was not derived from any ecclesias- 
tical or other human source. No man's hands 
were laid upon them in ordination, They 
were Jehovah's Ambassadors; from Him they 



22 BIBLK MASTERY 

received their messages; by Him they were 
inspired; and to Him alone they held them- 
selves responsible. 

The prophetic order had its foundation laid 
in Samuel. It flourished during the Mon- 
archy, continued during the Captivity, and 
remained a power till the work of Restoration 
was complete. 

The prophetic order included a large body. 
In Israel, Jehovah's prophets could be counted 
by the fifty, (l Kings XVIII: 4), and the 
Kings, by the four hundred. Most of these 
last, if not all, were false prophets, depend- 
ents of the crown — organs of the administra- 
tion, mere pretenders of the prophetic gift, who 
frequently received well merited and severe 
condemnation at the hands of such holy men 
of God as Jeremiah and Ezekiel, (Jer, XXIII, 
13-40; XXXVIII; Ezek. XIII). These Di- 
vine communications were made to the proph - 
ets, sometimes in dreams, and in visions of 
the nights. Sometimes God employed the 
ministry of angels, and again He spoke in an 
audible voice occasionally appearing in hu- 
man form. Ordinarily it would appear that 
He revealed His truth to the prophet by pro - 
ducing that supernatural state of mind where- 
by things remote in time and place or sym- 
bolical representations of these things be- 
came present living realities and were so de- 



BIBMCAI, FACTS 27 

ferred to by both favorable and hostile writers, 
during a period of nearly eighteen hundred 
years. References to the New Testament and 
quotations from it are to be found in writings 
that go back as far as the second century of 
the Christian era. There are only a few clas- 
sical writers that exceed the New Testament 
writers— such as the poems of Homer, 850 B. 
C, about the time of EHsha, and Hesiod 735, 
B. C, about the time of Isaiah. The earliest 
profane history that is known to us, is that 
of the Greek historian, Herodotus, 425, B. C. 

The Old Testament was evidently very an- 
cient when the New Testament was written. 
Its earliest books were compiled 1500 years 
B. C, and its latest portions about 400 years 
B. C. — the whole being composed during a 
period of 1100 years. Genesis and Job were 
written 1000 years earlier than Herodotus. 

THE GENUINENESS OF THE BIBLE. 

A book is said to be genuine, if we have it 
as it was written by the person whose name 
it bears, or to whom it is ascribed. It is 
said to be corrupt if it varies from the text, 
and forged or spurious if not the production 
of its professed author. 

If we had a manuscript of each book of the 
Bible in the author's handwriting, and if the 



28 BIBI,E MASTERY 

fact of it being such could be proved, the gen - 
uineness of that book would be beyond ques- 
tion ; and every copy that agreed with the 
original manuscripts would be genuine like- 
wise. But we have no such manuscripts; 
and we are left, therefore, in order to convince 
ourselves of the genuineness of the books as 
we at present possess them, to such proof as 
we can find in the books themselves, and in 
the circumstances attending their preserva- 
tion and transmission. The proof must then 
be found in the internal evidence suggested 
by an examination of the books themselves 
or in external evidence, the same as historical 
testimony. 

The New Testament 

1. Beginning with the present day we can 
trace the Bible back step by step to the time 
of Christ and beyond. No one can doubt 
that the New Testament, as we now possess it, 
is the same that existed, and was recognized 
by the church when it was first printed. The 
art of printing brought to literature the ad- 
vantages of fixing the dates of books, and 
by multiplying copies and editions, of se- 
curing the text from corruption. We are thus 
brought by a single step to the beginning of 
the sixteenth century. There are extant 
printed copies of the New Testament, in 
Greek, dated A. D., 1516, edited by Erasmus. 



BIBI^ICAIv FACTS 25 

sincerity regarded as fundamental elements 
of true life." 

5. Note Christ as the prophesied Savior. 

Born of a Virgin, Isa. 7 : 14; Matt. 1 : 23. 

Born in Bethlehem, Micah 5:2; Matt. 2:1. 

The forerunner of Christ, Isa. 40 : 3; Matt. 
3: 1-3. 

His death, Zech. 14: 4-6; Isa, 53 : 12; Matt. 
26: 50. 

His Resurrection, Ps. 16: 10; Isa. 26: 19 ; 
Luke 24: 6,31. 

Christ's work for the human race, Isa. 53. 

Compare the fulfillment of prophecy in the 
New Testament, Isa. 53 : 1 with John 12 : 38 
and Rom. 10: 16; Isa. 53 :3 with Heb. 4:15 
and John 1 : 11, &c. 

The Prophetical Books should be read in 
connection with the Historical Books which 
contain the history of the times in which the 
writers respectively lived and prophesied. 
They will mutually interpret and illustrate 
each other. In fact, the one cannot be un- 
derstood at all without reference to the other. 

Convenient groups of the New Testament. 

The Books of the New Testament fall into 
three main divisions : The Historical, the 
Doctrinal or Epistolary, and the Prophetical. 
The four Gospels and the Acts of the Apos- 
tles constitute the Historical portion ; the 
twenty one Epistles form the Doctrinal por- 



26 BIBLR MASTERY 

tion, while the Apocalypse is the one Pro- 
phetical Book. These divisions are relative 
rather than absolute, since there are pro- 
phetical and doctrinal passages in the histor- 
ical books and historical and prophetical 
passages in the Epistles. The divisions 
describe with sufficient accuracy the general 
character of each group. 



IMPORTANT QUESTIONS 

To the thoughtful and intelligent student 
becoming acquainted with the Bible for the 
first time, various inquiries respecting it and 
its pretentions could not fail to occur to him. 
Questions as to its antiquity, its genuineness, 
its authenticity and credibility, its authority, 
its inspiration, its design and how it came to 
its prerent form seem reasonable. The Bible 
student wishes to know also about the canon 
of the Holy Scriptures, about the apocryphal 
books, the land of the Bible, and its influence 
and circulation. 

THE ANTIQUITY OF THE BIBLE. 

This may be discovered from its very 
surface. Its lanuage, its allusions, its char- 
acter throughout, all indicate its remote 
origin. This is called internal evidence. 

But the historical proof of its antiquity is 
very complete. The New Testament is re- 



GENUINENESS OF THE BIBLE 31 

later than 450 A. D. Over two thousand are 
in existence. 

Remarks and illustrations, and explana- 
tions of words and phrases written between 
the lines or on the margin by the owner of a 
manuscript, were sometimes combined with 
the original text by a copyist. 

(3) The above manuscripts are in the 
Greek. The Hebrew manuscripts of the Old 
Testament do not date back of the 10th Cen- 
tury, A. D. Though not old, they are of 
great authority, as the Jewish Scribes copied 
their scriptures with most reverent care. 

The important point to be noted' is, the re- 
markable extent to which Divine providence 
has preserved for us the kind of evidence 
which these manuscripts supply. 

The number and age of the manuscripts of 
the Bible have special bearing. In the case 
of Greek and Roman classics twenty, or even 
ten manuscripts are deemed amply sufficient 
to form an approximately acurate text. No 
one doubts the genuineness of the writings of 
Herodotus, and yet not more than fifteen 
manuscripts of Herodotus are known to critics; 
and by these the most ancient belongs to the 
tenth century of our era, fourteen centuries 
after the original composition. A Virgil in 
the Vatican claims an antiquity as far back as 
the fourth century or between four or five 



32 BIBLE MASTERY 

centuries after the appearance of the original; 
but for the most part the manuscripts of the 
classics belong to periods between the tenth 
and fifteenth centuries, many centuries there- 
fore after their writers were in their graves. 
For recent editions of the New Testament, 
not fewer than six hundred manuscripts have 
been compared, and they go back as far as 
the fourth century 

The succession of manuscripts of the He- 
brew Scriptures is even more wonderful than 
that of the Christian writings. The number 
of manuscripts of the Old Testament extant, 
and which extend backwards from the four- 
teenth to the fourth century is something 
marvelous. Dr. Kennicott collated 630 of 
these manuscripts for his edition of the He- 
brew Bible. Dr. Rossi collated 734 more. 

3. After manuscripts, quotations and ver- 
sions may be considered. These both make 
up for any defects or imperfections of manu- 
scripts, and also strengthen the evidence al - 
ready given for the genuineness of the New 
Testament. 

Quotations from the New Testament and 
references to it in the writings of the Church 
Fathers and the early heretics and opponents 
of Christianity are copious — going back as 
early as the first century. Among the promi - 
nent Fathers may be mentioned : Clement, a 



GENUINENESS OF THE BIBI.E 29 

There are also some copies in Greek and L,atin, 
dated A. D., 1514. These all, in the main 
agree with each other and with modern edi- 
tions. 

2. Before the invention of printing, we are 
dependent on manuscripts. 

(1) A manuscript is a copy of the Scriptures 
in the original tongue, written by hand on 
paper made from vellum (skins of young 
calves) or parchment (skin of sheep or goats) 
or from a reed called papyrus. This was done 
at great expense and trouble. Some think 
the Apostles used the cheaper material, the 
papyrus (II John 12), If so, its brittle char- 
acter will account for the loss of all these 
writings. The three oldest manuscripts are es - 
pecially fine, being written on "the skins of 
antelopes, and their leaves are so large that a 
single animal would furnish but two." 

While the original manuscripts are all lost 
we have many carefully made copies. 

(2) The manuscripts are classified accord- 
ing to form and size of the letters. Of these 
there are in the Greek two forms. 

A. UNCIA L. These are the oldest, and 
are written in large capital letters with 
scarcely any spacing or punctuation. (GOD 
SOLOVEDTHEWORLD. ) 

The date of these is from 300—450, A. D. 
About one hundred are extant but most are 



30 BIBLK MASTERY 

incomplete. The three most complete and 
most precious are the following uncials : 

(a) The Sinaitic manuscript, possibly the 
oldest, was discovered by Dr. Tischendorf , a 
German scholar, in the Convent of St. Cath- 
erine at the foot of Mt. Sinai in 1859. It be- 
longs, in all probability, to the fourth cen- 
tury, and is now in possession of the Greek 
Church in St. Petersburg. It contains the New 
Testament complete and the greater part of 
the Old Testament. 

{6) The Vatican, so called because it is 
preserved in the library of the Vatican at 
Rome, is in the possession of the Romish 
Church, and so jealously guarded has it been 
by the Papal authorities that only in recent 
years have students been permitted to study 
and copy it. It contains the New Testament 
complete to Heb. 9: 14, and all the Old Tes- 
tament except Gen. 1 -46 and Ps. 105-137. 

(c) The Alexandrian was discovered in the 
old Alexandrian Library in Egypt and pre- 
sented to the British Museum in 1628. Ten 
leaves of the Old Testament are wanting. 
The New Testament is complete excepting 
four chapters of Matthew, two of John and 
nine of II Corinthians. As the centuries ad- 
vance, the manuscripts rapidly multiply, of 
course the earliest are the most valuable. 

B. CURSIVE. These are written in the 
small running hand like our writing and date 



GENUINENESS OF THE BIBI.E 33 

Bishop of Rome, A,D, 95; Ignatius, Bishop 
of Antioch, A.D. 115; Polycarp, Bishop of 
Smyrna, A.D. 155; Justin Martyr, Apologist, 
A,D. 155; Irenaeus, A.D 180. The authors 
named above are only a few of those belong- 
ing to the early age of the Church, to whom 
reference might be made. In not less than 180 
ecclesiastical writers, whose works are still ex- 
tant, are to be found quotations from the New 
Testament- These quotations from the New 
Testament are so numerous in the writings be - 
fore the seventh century, that it is said, the 
whole text might , if it were lost, be reproduced . 

Versions'. Aversion is a translation from 
the original into another tongue. The Bible 
has been translated into over four hundred 
languages and dialects. 

There are, coordinate with and overlapping 
the period of special quotations, a number of 
versions. Among them are the Coptic and 
Thebaic (Egyptian) Versions, belonging to 
the third or beginning of the fourth century. 
There are also the ancient Syriac, belonging 
to the second century, and the Old Latin Ver- 
sion, also of the second century. This latter 
formed the basis of the Vulgate, a revision and 
translation by Jerome in the fourth century. 

( The quotations and versions above mentio?ied 
are found to agree , in the main with the text as 
it is received ?iow.) 



34 BIBLE MASTKRY 

Thus we have back to the second century 
a series of historical or external evidence that 
is all but complete. 

4. Before the second century, we have to 
depend on the probabilities in the case and on 
the internal evidence. 

a. It is not probable that writings which 
were accepted without question, both by friend 
and foe, in the second century, should have 
been corrupted during the few years that had 
elapsed since their production in the first cen- 
tury, without detection aid exposure. 

b. As to the style of the New Testament 
writings it is about what should be expected 
from the character of the professed writers. 
The language is Greek and such Greek as 
only the Jews could have written and such 
as they could have written only in the first 
century. This, of course, is the testimony of 
scholars. 

Genuineness of the Old Testament* 

We have considered the evidence in favor 
of the New Testament First, because our be- 
lief in the genuineness of the Old Testament 
Scriptures is founded very much upon the 
recognition of them, and the reference to them, 
in the New. The New Testament contains 
more than two hundred quotations from the 
Old Testament. 



GENUINENESS OF THE BIBLE 35 

That the Old Testament is substantially the 
same now as it was in our Lord's time, the 
proof seems decisive. 

a. By printing, by manuscripts, and quota- 
tions we at once go back to the New Testa- 
ment period. 

b. Josephus, the Jewish historian at the 
same time as the New Testament writers, gives 
particularly the number and the names of the 
sacred Hebrew books; and his list corresponds 
with ours. 

c. The author of the apocryphal book, Ec- 
clesiasticus lived about B. C. 180. He makes 
in this book repeated reference to the Old 
Testament history. His grandson who lived 
perhaps fifty years later made reference, in 
one of the prologues prefixed by him to Ec- 
clesiasticus , to the well - known division — the 
Law, the Prophets, and the rest of the 
Books." 

d. Then back beyond this we are taken by 
the Septuagint, a Greek translation, probably 
completed B. C. 285. This translation has 
been generally received by both Jews and 
Christians, and was in common use both in 
the Jewish Synagogue and by the early Chris- 
tian Church. 

We thus have evidence of the genuineness 
of the Old Testament as far back as the third 
century before Christ. 



36 BIBLE MASTERY 

Beyond that point we are dependent upon 
the books themselves. Since the books were 
written at distinct^ separate periods, frequent 
reference to, and quotations from each other 
are manifest. Ezra (B. C. 470) refers to 
Jeremiah (B. C. 608 ) Jeremiah refers to 
Micah (B. C. 756). Ezra, David, Joshua, re- 
fer to the writings of Moses. How diligent 
the Jews w T ere in the preservation of their 
sacred books, has been often noticed. Every 
word, every letter, was sacred. Copyists pie- 
served them with the utmost reverence, count - 
ing every letter of every book. No word or 
letter, not even a yod was allowed to be written 
from memory. Besides, the copying of these 
records was regarded as a sacred engagement. 
The copyist was required, before beginning 
his work, to bathe his whole body in water. 
He was required to array himself in full Jew- 
ish costume. He was not permitted to write 
the name of God with a pen which had been 
used before ; and, should a king address him 
while writing that name, he must take no no- 
tice of him. Painful and superstitious as 
most of these regulations were, they must have 
been of immense value in securing accuracy in 
the text. The scribe must have felt an almost 
awful responsibility in transcribing words that 
had such solemn sanction. It may be safely 
said, that the amount of evidence for the gen- 



GENUINENESS OK THE BIBLE 37 

dineness of the Old Testament writings is al- 
most infinitely greater than that in favor 
of any ancient secular book. 

Variations in the Text. 

While it is true that the text of the Bible, 
as we at present possess it, corresponds with 
the original in the main, still slight variations 
must be admitted. How far these variations 
affect the argument in favor of the genuine- 
ness of the books can not be ignored, and yet 
in the absence of special providence, which 
can hardly be claimed except in matters of 
momentous issues, some variations in the man- 
uscripts are inevitable. The copies which 
we possess must have been taken from other 
copies again and again — in some instances, 
scores or even hundreds of times— before they 
reached us in their present form. Sometimes 
the writer of a particular manuscript wrote 
fr m a manuscript before him; sometimes, 
perhaps, from dictation. In one case the 
e} r e would at times inevitably deceive the 
writer ; in the other, the ear. 

It should be noted that in the 7959 verses 
of the New Testament there are not more than 
ten or twelve "various readings' ' of very great 
importance. Of the Old Testament, a care- 
ful examiner has noted 1314 " various read- 
ings" of value; but of these, 566 are adopted 
in the English Version : 147 affect the mean- 



38 BIBLK MASTERY 

ing but cannot be regarded as important; gen- 
erally they correct a date or complete the 
sense. 

It should also be stated that the insertion or 
omission of passages concerning which, 
solely on critical grounds, reasonable doubts 
must be entertained, cannot affect, in the 
slightest degree, the great truths of the Bible. 

THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE 

BIBLE. 

Thus far we have indicated the evidence in 
favor of the genuineness only of the Bible ; we 
come now to consider its authenticity which 
refers to matters of fact. A book is authen- 
tic when it is a record of facts, as opposed to 
what is false or fictitious. A book may be 
genuine and not authentic, or it may be au- 
thentic and not genui?ie. 

The New Testament 

The evidence, already given, seems clearly 
convincing that the Scriptures of the New 
Testament, as we now have them, belong to 
the first century of the Christian era. 

The four Gospels , Matthew, Mark, Luke 
and John are unquestionably the productions 
of the persons whose names they bear. They 
were acknowledged as such in the very earliest 
ages. The authorship of the Gospel narra- 



AUTHENTICITY OV THE BILI.K 39 

tives was never impugned, even through all 
the controversies which followed the early 
promulgation of Christianity. 

Assuming the authorship of the books, as 
claimed, it is not difficult to show that the 
professed writers had special opportunity to 
know the truth of what they relate. 

The apostles Matthew and John were the 
constant attendants of our Lord throughout 
the w T hole course of His ministry; they were 
therefore eye -witnesses of the facts, or ear- 
witnesses of the words, which they relate or 
record. Mark and Luke were not apostles 
but they were contemporaries of and asso- 
ciates with the apostles and lived in intimate 
friendship with them. 

Luke is supposed by many to have been 
one of the seventy disciples who were ordained 
by our Lord to preach His Gospel, — Luke 
10 :1 . If so, his personal knowledge of Christ 
must have been almost equal to that of the 
apostles themselves. He was for many years 
the constant companion of Paul and most 
probably wrote his gospel with Paul's knowl- 
edge and approval. Mark attended Peter 
during much of his ministry, and wrote his 
account of our Lord's life under Peter's im- 
mediate direction. The book known as the 
Acts of the Apostles was avowedly written 
by the same author as that of the Gospel 



40 BIBI,K MASTERY 

ascribed to L,uke. — L,uke 1:1-4 and Acts. 
1:1-4. 

Such, then, being- the writers of these five 
books, we see that they were men who had the 
most accurate knowledge concerning the 
things which they relate. Hence they could 
not themselves have been deceived. Nor had 
they any inducement to deceive others. Their 
writings indicate integrity, simplicity, candor. 
Not even their greatest enemies ever attempted 
to cast a slur on the purity of their lives. By 
false statements they had nothing to gain; by 
holding to the truth they lost much of what 
men hold dear. 

The argument, as far as it applies to the 
authenticity of the other books of the New 
Testament, may be conveniently reserved 
for a subsequent treatment. 

The Old Testament* 

Our belief in the authenticity of the Old 
Testament depends very much on the au- 
thority of the New. Its authenticity was both 
assumed and reasoned from, by our Lord, 
and it was recognized and made the basis of 
argument and appeal by the apostles after- 
wards. Then the very existence of the Jewish 
religion can be accounted for only on the as- 
sumption that the facts of Jewish history are 
essentially true. 



AUTHORITY OF THE BIBLK 41 

THE AUTHORITY OF THE B:RLE. 

The question of the authority of the Bible 
is one of the most important that can arise in 
discussing- the Holy Scriptures. It is fitting 
to ask: What is the authority of the Bible? 
Is it Divine? Does the Bible claim of itself 
Divine authority? Is that claim, if made, 
capable of being substantiated? 

The New Testament. 

The Divine authority of the New Testament 
rests on the Divine authority of the Lord Jesus 
Christ. If He were an imposter, the record of 
His life and teachings is an imposition also. 
If He was, and is, what we believe Him to 
have been and to be, the book from which 
we learn all we know of Him has, at once, the 
stamp of his authority. 

This is enforced in the fact that every book 
of the New Testament represents or assumes 
the mission of Christ to have been Divine. 
He was a "teacher come from God, the true 
light. ,? Then this claim to Divine authority 
is made most distinctly by our Lord Himself. 
It was chiefly in confirmation of this claim 
that He did His many marvelous works* His 
prophecies, His power and wisdom, and the 
force of His character in life, in death and in 
the resurrection all attest His Divine au- 
thority. 



42 BIB1«K MASTERY 

But, if our Lord was Divine, the authority 
of His apostles was Divine also. They were 
appointed by Him to carry on His work. The 
apostles afterwards proved their commission 
by the miracles which they wrought, "in the 
name and by the power" of their Master; and 
also by the impartation to others of the 
spiritual gifts that they had themselves re- 
ceived from Him. 

The Divinity of Christ and the Divine au- 
thority of His apostles, carry us a long way 
in the argument. What our Lord taught 
was undoubtedly true, and what the apostles 
reported that He taught was truly reported 
not only from personal recollection but from 
the promised "bringing to their remembrance' ' 
the things which He had said. Of the eight 
writers of the New Testament, five, namely, 
Matthew, John, Peter, James and Jude, were 
among the number of apostles appointed by 
our Lord during His lifetime; and to them, 
therefore, the above argument applies. 

The remaining New Testament writers are 
Mark, Luke and Paul. The Gospels of Mark 
and Luke, though not written by apostles, 
were written, as already stated, by contem- 
poraries and companions of apostles. Mark 
was a convert and companion of Peter. 3 The 
Gospel of Mark was commonly received, in 
primitive times, as having been dictated, or 



AUTHORITY OF TEI: BIBLE 43 

at least sanctioned and approved by Peter. 
Luke's Gospel, and also his book of the Acts, 
were universally received as sanctioned by 
Paul. 

Paul did not become a convert to Chris- 
tianity until several years after the Lord's 
resurrection and ascension. We do not know 
that he ever saw the Saviour "in the flesh." 
But, according to his own testimony, and that 
of the Acts of the Apostles, the Lord revealed 
Himself to him. He was declared to be "a 
chosen vessel" unto the Lord, "to bear His 
name before the Gentiles and Kings and the 
children of Israel." Afterwards he was 
welcomed by apostles to the apostolic office, 
for which he claimed apostolic authority, 
vindicating his claim by the exercise of mi- 
raculous pow 7 ers and the impartation of 
spiritual gifts. Paul speaks therefore in 
Christ's name; and his teaching, equally with 
that of the other apostles, is Divinely author- 
ized. The character and results of Paul's 
teaching also add weight to the claim of Di- 
vine authority. 

The Divine Authority of the 
Old Testament. 

The Divine authority of the Old Testament 
rests, for us primarily on the declarations of 
our Lord and of those whom he inspired. 



44 BIBLE MA! 

But if the Old Testament Scriptures are gen- 
uine and authentic, they are also supported 
by miracle and sustained by the exercise of 
the gift of prophecy. Moses conversed with 
Jehovah"face to face". Joshua, Elijah, Sam- 
uel and David spoke and acted, avowedly 
under Divine authorization. Isaiah, Jere- 
miah and the other prophets were enabled 
continually to declare, "thus saith the Lord," 
so that the Old Testament and the New rest 
on similar evidence for Divine authorization. 

THE INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE. 

The Bible is no ordinary human composi- 
tion but is supernatural in origin and Divine 
in authorship, — in other words it is inspired 
of God, as Paul says — God -breathed. There 
are two agents which unite in its production 
— the Divine and the human. "Holy men of 
old spoke" — that is the human; "as they 
were moved by the Holy Spirit"— there is 
the Divine. (2 Pet. 1:21.) 

As to the extent and varied views of in- 
spiration it is well to study some special 
treatise on the subject. If the fact be assured 
we may be content to wait for the theory. 
The mode or modes of the Spirit's operations 
may be safely left for future consideration. 

The three grand operations of the Holy 
Spirit in the composition and saving power 
of the Scriptures are Revelation, Inspiration 



INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE 45 

and Spiritual Illumination. Revelatio?i prop- 
erly signifies the supernatural communication 
to the inspired penman of the essential truths 
of religion, which were beyond the reach of 
human discovery; Inspiration signifies that 
Divine influence which rendered the sacred 
writers infallible in communicating truth, 
whether previously known or not — whether 
supernaturally revealed, or whether it be 
scientific, historical, or other secular truth 
within the limits of their own knowledge; 
while it is the peculiar province of spiritual 
illumination to enable the believer to discern 
the beauty and excellency of Divine things 
when revealed. 

The specific function of inspired men was 
solely to utter by tongue or pen, without error 
or defect, whatever the Holy Spirit moved 
them to utter — nothing more, nothing less, and 
nothing other. In doing this one thing they 
were infallible, and in nothing outside thereof. 

All inspired men were not subjects of all 
three of the operations of the Holy Spirit. A 
few men, as Moses, Isaiah, Paul and John 
were granted the three endowments in their 
fullness- — abundant revelations, inspiration, 
and spiritual illumination ; others as Mark 
and Iyuke, inspiration and spiritual discern- 
ment, but no revelations; to all believers in 
their measure is given the grace of Spiritual 



46 BIBLE MASTERY 

illumination; while a few wicked men, as Ba- 
laam and Caiaphas,and"King Saul, who was 
also among the prophets,' ' were inspired but 
wanting in both the other gifts of the Holy 
Spirit. All revelation is inspired, but all in- 
spired matter is not revelation. Revelation 
is but a freque?it, while inspiration is the con- 
stajit, phenomenon presented in the written 
word. There is also a w r ide distinction to be 
made between matter inspired by the Holy 
Spirit and the historical recitals committed to 
writing by the sacred penmen under His gui- 
dance. The Divine Author is no more respon- 
sible for the "malignant insinuations of the 
three bigots in Job , " or the profanity of Peter, 
or the lies of Abraham, or the crimes of David, 
or the sayings of Satan, than the historian is 
for the words and deeds of the actors in the 
drama he is bound faithfully to report. It 
is not implied that Pilate was a saint because 
his name is written in the Bible. 

The special proofs which seem to establish 
the fact of inspiration are as follows : 

(1) The claims of the book itself ; (2) the 
character of its contents; (3) the confidence 
of believers that it is from God; (4) its dis- 
tinctness from all other books; (5) the inex- 
haustibleness of its interest; (6) the perma- 
nence of its value; (7) its moral and spiritual 
unity; (8) its scientific incorrectness, or its 



DESIGN OF THE BIBLE 47 

use of the language of common life to de- 
scribe physical phenomena; (9) Its influence 
on character and conduct; and (10) the uni- 
form testimony of the church in all ages. 

THE DESIGN OF THE BIBLE, 

The Bible was doubtless designed to give 
us correct information concerning our rela- 
tion to God as His creatures; and to instruct 
us respecting the things that we should know 
in order to "glorify Him on earth, and enjoy 
Him forever." j, It is not intended to teach us 
everythiyig that we might desire to know, 
even with respect to our spiritual life and our 
eternal destiny. "Secret things belong to 
God." Still less is it intended to teach us 
science, or philosophy, history or geopraphy 
except so far as they, or any of these, are sub - 
servient to its one purpose and aim. 

The great design of the Bible, is to exhibit 
God (< i?i Christ, reconcili?ig the world iinto 
Himself:' The Old Testament, rightly un- 
derstood, is an account of the preparation of 
the world for the advent of Christ; the New 
Testament is an account of that advent, and a 
statement and prophecy of its results. 

Some of the Most Important Versions* 

a. The Septuagint. This is the translation 
of the Old Testame?it into Greek in the third 
century B. C. Tradition says that it was 



48 BIBLE MASTERY 

made in Alexandria, Egypt, by seventy - 
two men. It is probable that at first only 
tbe Pentatench was translated, the other 
books gradually thereafter, but the transla- 
tion is believed to have been completed by 
the second century, B. C. 

This was the Bible in common use at the 
time of Christ and His disciples, and con- 
tains the Apocrypha. 

b. The Vulgate. This is the translation of 
the entire Bible into Latin by Jerome, a very 
learned man, at the close of the fourth cen- 
tury, A. D. This version was partly by di- 
rect translation from the original and partly 
by revision of older Latin versions. It grad - 
ually came into general use and hence was 
known as the Vulgate or common version. In 
the course of time a number of passages were 
changed back from Jerome's phraseology in- 
to that of the older Latin versions. In this 
modified form the Vulgate was adopted by 
the Council of Trent (1545—63) as the au- 
thorized version of the Roman Catholic 
Church. 

English Translations. 

(l) Portions of the Scripture were trans- 
lated into English as early as the eighth and 
ninth centuries by such men as the venerable 
Bede and King Alfred. 



TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE 49 

(2) The first translation of the entire Bible 
into any form of modern English was made 
by John Wyclif from the Vulgate only, toward 
the close of the fourteenth century — the New 
Testament, 1380, and the Old Testament, 1382 , 
before the invention of printing, and conse- 
quently was only in manuscript form. It 
exerted great influence on the national life, 
and helped to influence the formation of the 
modern English language. Before Wyclif s 
translation, copies of the Bible were mostly 
in Latin, an unknown tongue to all but the 
learned, and the cost of one was as much as 
a laboring man's price of work for 15 years, 
and equal to $1400 of our money. 

(3) Tyndale's translation was the first from 
the original Hebrew and Greek directly into 
English. Other English translations had 
been made from the Vulgate or older Latin 
versions. William Tyndalewas a scholar of 
simple, heroic life aud was possessed of a sin- 
gularly rich Christian experience. After ten 
years of toil and extreme hardship he trans- 
lated the Pentateuch, the historical books and 
a part of the Prophets. He published the 
first printed New Testament in English, in 
1525, and portions of the Old Testament later. 
His translations were of great value because 
made from the Greek and Hebrew manu- 
scripts. For his zeal, he was burned at the 
stake, October 6, 1536. 



50 BIBLE MASTERY 

(4) The century following Tyndale was not- 
able for its many translations. Among these 
are : 

a, Cover dale's Bible, the first English ver- 
sion of the whole Bible, published in 1535 
and dedicated to Henry VIII. It was * 'trans- 
lated out of Douche and Latin, with the help 
of five sundry translators,' ' evidently largely 
following Tyndale's version. 

Prior to the time of printing, the Bible was 
chained in the churches and to the shelves and 
reading desks of the Libraries of Europe, 
and in the possession of such wealthy per- 
sons as were able, and desired to purchase 
written copies. 

b. The Great Bible (Matthew's 1539) so 
called from the size of the pages, was the 
first translation authorized by the King. 

c. The Genevan Bible , 1560. This trans- 
lation was made in Geneva, Switzerland, by 
scholars exiled from England. It was by far 
the most scholarly and printed in the best 
form of any of these early translations. 

d, The Bishop's Bible, 1568, was so called 
because eight Bishops had part in the trans- 
lation. 

e* The Douay Bible, an English translation 
from the Latin Vulgate, was made about the 
beginning of the seventeenth century, the Old 
Testament at Douay, in France, and the New 



VERSIONS OF THE BIBLE 51 

Testament at Rheims, in the same country. 

This is the version sanctioned and used by 
the Papal church. 

(5) The Authorized Version was made by 
order of King James I and completed in 1611, 
It was begun by fifty -four learned men ap- 
pointed by the King. Seven of these in four 
years, from illness and other causes, had to 
give up the work and it was completed by the 
forty -seven remaining. The work covered 
seven years. Competent authorities have 
pronounced it "the best of any translation 
in the world," being, on the whole, a faithful 
and accurate reflex of the original text and the 
mind of the Spirit, 

(6) The Revised Version was begun in 
June, 1870, by a joint conference of eminent 
Biblical scholars of England and the United 
States and completed May 5, 1885. The New 
Testament was completed and published in 
1880, and the Old Testament in 1885, ex- 
tending over a period of fifteen years. 

Very important facts concerning this ver- 
sion : 

a. The three old uncial manuscripts were 
used in this version only. 

b. This was the first version to use the 
writings of the Fathers. 

c. All the known cursive manuscripts, 
about two thousand, were consulted. 



52 BIBLE MASTKRY 

d. It was the product of the linguistic 
scholarship of the world. 
It was made necessary by: 

a. A discovery of a large amount of hith- 
erto unknown material. These revisers had 
access to ancient manuscripts and versions 
unknown to any other revisers. 

b. The rise of the science of textual criti - 
cism by which the value and place of old 
manuscripts can be estimated. 

c. The fact that the delicate meaning of the 
oiiginal is brought out by a better scholar- 
ship. 

d. The change in the English language, 
whereby since the Authorized Version was 
published new meanings have been given to 
over two hundred words, 1 Cor. 13 and 1 
Thess. 4: 15. 

(7) The American Standard Revision is the 
last and by some considered the best of all 
the translations. It appeared in 1901 and is 
the work of the American revisers. 

(8) The Twentieth Century New Testament 
is written in the language of to-day and is 
a valuable aid to Bible study. 

The Canon of Holy Scriptures. 

The word canon originally meant only a 
carpenter's rule or a straight rod, used as a 
standard of measurement, but when applied 
to the Bible it indicates those books which 



CANON OF THE BIBLE 53 

have stood the tests made by the early church 
to determine their authenticity and inspira- 
tion; those that have been authoritatively 
catalogued as constituting the Sacred Scrip- 
tures and have been so received. Thus the 
book becomes a positive and authoritative 
element in determining our standards of doc- 
trine. 

The Old Testament Canon. 

The Old Testament — the sacred writings of 
the Jews — found in the time of our Lord, was 
in two collections, (l) The Palestinian , so 
called, written in the Hebrew language, and 
(2) The Alexandrian, called the Septuagint, 
or the LXX, written in Greek, which was the 
common speech of the Jews who were of the 
dispersion, scattered abroad among the na- 
tions. Because there were many Jews every- 
where who knew much of Greek but little or 
nothing of Hebrew, the translation of the He- 
brew Scriptures into Greek became a neces- 
sity. 

At the time of our Lord the Hebrew tongue 
was a dead language. It may have been the 
language of the Temple, as Latin is now the 
language o* the Roman Catholic Mass, and 
used by scholars only, but the common peo- 
ple did not understand it, nor was it spoken 



54 BIBLE MASTERY 

familiarly in Palestine. The native tongue 
of Palestine in our Lord's day was the Ara- 
maic, a language similar to the Hebrew, 
sometimes called the later Hebrew and having 
some such relation to it as the English has 
to the German tongue. When "the Hebrew 
tongue' ' is mentioned in the New Testament 
it is the Aramaic that is meant, and not the 
ancient Hebrew. The Greek, on the other 
hand, was the living language and common 
speech of the time, and was spoken every- 
where. 

The Alexandrian canon differed from the 
Palestinian not only in being written in Greek, 
but also in containing the books commonly 
called the Apocrypha-non -canonical Jewish 
histories — and, as a translation from the He- 
brew, the version was rather free than literal, 
frequently missing the sense of the original, 
These Greek Scriptures were, however, gen- 
erally received by both Jews and Christians; 
they were in common use both in the Syna- 
gogues and in the early Christian churches; 
and from them our Lord and His Apostles 
made most of the quotations which appear 
in the New Testament. 

^The Palestinian collection, or Hebrew Canon 
was substantially, if not exactly the same as 
that of our Old Testament, though the books 
were arranged in very different order. ' j Indeed 



CANON OF THE BIBLE 55 

they were regarded as three distinct groups 
of writings rather than as one book, and the 
three groups, the Law, the Prophets and the 
Writings — appear to have been regarded by 
the Jews as of different degrees of sacredness 
and authority, the Law first, Prophets second 
and Writings third. 

The Old Testament Canon in its present 
shape was formed gradually during a long 
period, beginning with Ezra in the fifth cen- 
tury before Christ, who collected and edited 
the Iyaw, followed by Nehemiah, who col- 
lected the Books of the Prophets; while the 
Writings, the third group, was not finally 
settled and the Canon closed till the Synod 
of Jamina, about 90 A. D. 

While the New Testament distinctly refers 
to most of the Old Testament books there are 
six whose names the New Testament never 
quotes: Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Canticles, 
Esther, Ezra and Nehemiah, while to Prov- 
verbs, Judges, Chronicles, and Ezekiel it 
only makes reference. 

The Jewish historian, Josephus, and Philo, 
also an eminent authority, bear testimony to 
the fact that these Books which make up our 
English Old Testament constituted, with the 
six already mentioned, the Palestinian or He - 
brew Canon; but more weighty than all is the 



56 BIBLE MASTERY 

endorsement of Jesus and His Apostles — that 
is, the New Testament accredits the Old. 

The Alexandrian or Greek version seemed 
equally endorsed, as it was most used and 
quoted by the New Testament authorities* 

The New Testament Canon* 

The Bible of the early Christians was the 
Old Testament Scriptures. Upon these they 
relied wholly for religious instruction, and 
had no thought of any other sacred Scrip- 
ture. 

The Books which compose the New Testa- 
ment were written during the second half of 
the first century of the Christian era, either 
by the Apostles of our Lord or other persons 
acting under their superintendence and direc- 
tion. The non -apostolic writings received 
apostolic endorsement and became, therefore 
as authoritative as if written by the apostles 
themselves. 

At first these apostolic writings were read 
for suggestion and instruction only. There 
was no thought of ranking them in authority 
and sacredness with the Books of the Old 
Testament It was not long, however, until 
they began to quote the Gospels and Epistles 
the same as the Old Testament Books and 



CANON OF THE BIBLE 57 

thus arose the need for collecting the apos- 
tolic literature for use in the churches. 

The collection for the New Testament Canon 
was commenced a^out one hundred years 
after the Books were written, in the second half 
of the second century. Lists of Books re- 
garded as canonical were made successively 
in the fi r st two centuries by Irenaeus, Clem- 
ent of Alexandria and Turtillian ; by Origen 
in the third century ; and by Eusebius "the 
Father of Church History," C} T ril of Jerusa- 
lem, and Athanasius, in the fourth century. 
At the close of the fourth century, by the de- 
crees of two contemporary councils, both held 
in North Africa — The councils of Hippo (393) 
and of Carthage (397), the canonaswenow 
have it was finally settled, after the thorough 
scrutiny of the writings for not less than three 
hundred years. 

Eusebius divided the Christian books into 
three classes (l) Homologumena>ttiz authen- 
tic and undisputed. These were twenty — the 
four Gospels, the Acts, the thirteen Pauline 
Epistles, 1st Peter and 1st John; (2) Aniilego- 
mena, those called in question. The seven 
of this class were Hebrews, James, 2d Peter, 
2d and 3d John, Jude and Revelation. These, 
however, were all received into the canon at 
the close of the fourth century. The Old Tes 
tament canon of the Protestants is identical 



58 BIBLK MASTKRY 

with that of the Jews, and their New Testa- 
ment canon is identical with that of the Roman 
Catholics. 

THE APOCRYPHA. 

The Apocrypha are certain writings con- 
nected with both Testaments for which a 
place in the canon of Holy Scripture is 
claimed, but without good reason. 

The Apocryphal books of the New Testa- 
ment are much more numerous than those of 
the Old Testament and yet not one of them 
is anywhere regarded as belonging to the 
canon. In every language, throughout the 
world and by every Church the New Testa- 
ment is universally recognized as composed 
of the same twenty -seven books, neither 
more nor less. 

The Old Testament Apocrypha consisting 
of fourteen writings or books of Jewish origin 
and of great antiquity, written in Hellenistic 
Greek and found in the Septuagint or Greek 
version, were never regarded by the Jews as 
a part of their Sacred canon, nor were they 
ever quoted by our Lord or,- His apostles. 
The i?iternal evidence, is against the inspira- 
tion of these books — some of the writers claim 
Divine authority and some of them virtually 
disown it. They contain statements that are 



TEXT OF THE BIBLE 59 

at variance with history and are self contradic - 
tory. They are opposed to the doctrines and 
precepts of Scripture. For historical pur- 
poses, and for "instruction of manners,' ' the 
books are of value; but they are without au- 
thority, and so form no part of the rule of 
faith. 

THE TEXT OF THE BIBLE. 

The text of the Holy Scripture consists of 
the original words of the various writings 
which compose the Bible, in exactly the same 
form and shape in which they were penned, 
without note or comment. There is a differ- 
ence between the text and a text of Holy 
Scripture — The one is the Sacred writings as 
the}' came from the hands of their authors; 
while the other is such as may be found in 
any particular copy or edition of the same. 

A text is spoken of as pure when it exactly 
corresponds with the original manuscript, 
and corrupt when it varies from the original. 

There is not, however, a single original 
autograph copy of the Bible books anywhere 
to be found.' 'The original Old Testament 
manuscripts possibly perished in tfie destruc- 
tion of Solomon's Temple by Nebuchadnez- 
zar; while the manuscripts of the New Tes- 
tament may have perished with the brittle 



60 BIBLE MASTERY 

papyrus upon which they were written; or 
they may have been destroyed through the 
persecutions of the infant Church. It is 
doubtless a blessing that these precious docu- 
ments have been lost. They would have 
become objects of worship and teachers of 
superstition, rather than of faith* 

BIBLICAL CRITICISM. 

Biblical criticism is divided into two de- 
partments — (l) That which relates to the text 
itself, called Textual or Lower Criticism, and 
(2) that which relates to the literary forms 
and contents of the Bible, called the Higher 
Criticism. Toward either form of criticism 
the Christian Church should be both tolerant 
and generous. Earnest men desire to know 
the truth, the whole truth and nothing but 
the truth concerning the Bible. No criticism 
can destroy truth. More Bible is the infal- 
lible cure for scepticism about the Bible. 

BIBLE CHRONOLOGY. 

Chronology is the science of computing 
and adjusting the epochs and periods of time. 
These epochs are computed by fixing the date 
of any given event and measuring the dis- 
tance between it and some other occurrence in 
history. Bible chronology has always been a 



CHRONOLOGY OF THE BIBLE 61 

subject of earnest study. So far as the Old 
Testament is concerned there are immense 
difficulties that prevent definite knowledge. 
From the days of Solomon, perhaps even 
from the exodus, we are comparatively safe; 
but in the long period which preceds the ex- 
odus — reckoned according to the shortest com- 
putation, at more than 2500 years, we must be 
content with mere approximate dates. The 
early Old Testament chronology is depen- 
dent chiefly on genealogies. The uncertainty 
and incompleteness of these accentuate the 
difficulty. Some learned men tell us that man 
may have lived on the earth for ten, fifteen or 
even twenty thousand years before Christ. 

Chronological Data* 

It is well to get clearly in mind a few lead- 
ing events of Old Testament history, together 
with definite dates as a help to one's study. 

We have what is called a longer and a 
shorter system of chronology. The follow- 
ing table will give the principal dates as 
they are fixed by the leading modern chro- 
nologies. 

In the English version of the Old Testa- 
ment Archbishop Ussher's dates have been 
adopted. 



62 



BIBLE MASTERY 







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tANDS OF THK BIBLE 63 

BIBLE LANDS, 

The lands of the Bible are in the Eastern 
Hemisphere, the country of the Orient. They 
are mainly in Asia, which is divided into 
Asia Proper and Asia Minor. The Bible 
countries which Asia Proper includes are Ar- 
menia, Media, Persia, Assyria, Chaldea, Mes - 
sopotamia, Syria and Arabia. In the modern 
atlas these countries are all embraced in Tur- 
key in Asia, Persia and Arabia. Asia Minor 
extends westward from the Euphrates to- 
wards Europe and lies between the Mediter- 
ranean and the Black Seas. It is a large 
peninsula, including the provinces of Pontus, 
Cappadocia and Cilicia; Pisidia, Patnphylia 
and Galatia; Bethynia, Mysia, Lydia and 
Lysia. The countries in Asia Proper are 
those which pertain to Old Testament history; 
while those embraced in Asia Minor, to- 
gether with Syria are related to New Testa- 
ment story. In the extreme northeastern 
part of Africa are Bible lands— Egypt, L,ibya> 
and Cyrene a little to the westward, with 
Ethiopia to the South. In Europe are por- 
tions associated with Christian history — Italy, 
Greece, Macedonia (Thrace), Illyricum and 
the islands in the Mediterranian Sea and its 
arms— the Adriatic and Aegean Seas. 

Much effort has been made to locate the: 
Garden of Eden but the exact spot has never 



64 BIBLE MASTERY 

been identified, and doubtless never will be. 
The place most commonly agreed upon, how- 
ever, is at the confluence of the Tigris and 
Euphrates. 

PALESTINE. 

1. Its Location is in the Southwest of Asia, 
and embraces the area between the Mediter- 
ranean Sea and the Arabian Desert, and ex- 
tends from Dan to Beersheba. Promised to 
Abraham and to his seed. Gen. 12 : 1-7; 13 : 
14-17; 15: 18. 

2. Its Sue is 150 miles long and averages 
about 65 miles in width. The area is about 
12,000 square miles, about the size and shape 
of Vermont. The portion west of the Jordan 
contains about 6,040 square miles and is some- 
what larger than Connecticut. 

3. The Land in the north is mountainous, 
the elevation rising to a height of 8,000 feet 
above the sea level. In the South the hills 
slope to the level of the plains. The central 
portion is mountainous. The principal moun- 
tains are Hermon, Lebanon, Carmel, Ger- 
azim, Ebal, Zion, Olivet and Nebo. The 
land has three marked physical features : the 
Jordan Valley depressed below the sea level, 
the hill country of central Palestine and the 
fertile lowlands on the Mediterranean. 



LANDS OF THE BIBLE 65 

4. Palestine at the time of the allotment to 
the twelve tribes may be seen by referring to 
a map. Num. 26:55-56; 33:54; 34:13; 
Joshua 14-19; also the political divisions un- 
der Judah and Israel, 1 Kings 11: 29-36; 12 : 
16-21. 

5. Palestine in the time of Christ had four 
political divisions, namely, Judea, Samaria, 
Galilee and Perea 

6. The Various Names are: (l) Canaan 
(Gen. 11: 31), so called because the descend- 
ants of Canaan occupied the land (Gen. 10 : 
6, 15-20). That portion of the territory west 
of the Jordan was called by the ancient He- 
brews Canaan to distinguish it from the land 
of Giiead on the East side of the river. (2) 
The land of Israel (l Sam. 13-19; 1 Chron. 
22 : 2 Matt 2 :20). The entire country was 
known by this name after the conquest, but 
was given to the northern realm after the di- 
vision of the kingdom. (3) Palestine (Ex. 
15 : 14; Joel 3:4). This name, by which it 
is now universally known, was generally ap- 
plied soon after the opening of the Christian 
era. (4) The Holy land (Zech. 2: 12) was 
a name that came into general use in the 
middle ages. 

7. The Waters are : (l) The Mediterran- 
ean Sea, which lies between Europe and Af- 
rica, forms the western boundary of Palestine 



66 BIBLE MASTERY 

and has a length of 2 ,000 miles. (2) The Sea 
of Galilee is called Chinnereth or Chinne- 
roth, Gennesaret and Tiberias. It is pear- 
shaped, somewhat broader at the upper part, 
and is nearly 13 miles long. It is surrounded 
by hills, those on the east side rising 2,000 
feet. The surface of the water is 682 feet 
lower than the Mediterranean. The water is 
clear and sweet and abounds in fish. At the 
time of Christ there were nine cities and many 
villages on its shores; now Tiberias and Mag- 
dola are the only ones. (3) The Dead Sea, 
called Salt Sea and Sea of the Plain, is an elon- 
gated oval shape, broken by a peninsula pro- 
jecting from the eastern shore. It is about 
forty-seven miles long, nearly nine miles at its 
widest part and is 610 feet lower than the Sea 
of Galilee and 1 ,292 feet lower than the Medi - 
terranean. No other sheet of water is known 
to occupy so deep a hollow. The water is 
four or five times saltier than that of the Ocean. 
(4) The River Jordan has various sources in 
the Lebanon range, and in reaching the Sea of 
Galilee it falls 1,682 feet. From this point 
to the Dead Sea into which it empties, it falls 
610 feet. Its current is therefore very rapid. 
In going a direct line of sixty miles, the river 
covers 200 miles. 

8. The Principal Cities: (l) Jerusalem, 
the capital of Palestine, is eighteen miles 



GENERAL OUTLINE OF THE BIBLE 67 

from the Dead Sea, and thirty-two miles 
east of the Mediterranean. It is 3,600 feet 
above the Jordan. (2) Bethlehem, the birth 
place of Jesus, is a small town five miles 
south of Jerusalem. (3) Nazareth is a town 
in the south of Galilee, where Jesus lived. 
(4) Bethany, the home of I^azarus, of Mary 
and of Martha, and the place also of Christ's 
ascension, was on Mount Olives, about two 
miles from Jerusalem. (5) Jericho, a city of 
unusual historical interest, is thirteen miles 
northeast of Jerusalem. It is 1,000 feet be- 
low the Mediterranean and tropical in climate. 
(6) Capernaum, the center of Christ's work 
in Galilee is on the Sea of Galilee. It was 
the residence of Andrew, Peter, James, John 
and probably of Matthew. 

GENERAL OUTLINE 

Bible Divisions. 

1. The Simplest Division of the Bible is 
into the Old and New Testament. 

2. Convenient Groups of the Old Testament 
may be designated as Law, History, Poetry 
and Prophecy, and of the New Testament, as 
History, Doctrine (the Epistles) and Proph- 
ecy. (The books of each group have been 
previously indicated.) 

3. Division of books. The Bible is a library 
of sixty -six books, thirty -nine of which are 



68 BIBLE MASTERY 

in the Old Testament, and twenty -seven in 
the New. 

4. Division by Chapters and Verses. The 
present divisions of the Scripture into chap- 
ters and verses are not of Divine origin, nor 
are they of great antiquity, (l) Chapters. It 
is said that Hugo a Roman Catholic Cardinal 
in 1250 A. D., made the division into chap- 
ters of both the Old and New Testament to 
aid him in making a concordance to the Vul- 
gate Bible. Some think that Archbishop 
Langton made this division. (2) Verses. Very 
early before the chapter divisions, the books 
of the Bible were divided into sections to help 
in the reading. The divisions by verses were 
made by Jewish scholars in the ninth century, 
A. D., for the Old Testament, and by Robert 
Stephens for the New in 1551, A. D. 

The chapter and verse divisions are impor- 
tant for purposes and reference and critical 
study and yet as a rule these divisions rather 
obscure, if not destroy the sense. There are 
929 chapters in the Old Testament and 260 in 
the New; total 1,189. There are 23,214 verses 
in the Old Testament and 7,959 in the New; 
total 31,173. The Old Testament contains 
592,493 words and the New Testament 
181,253; total 773,746. The Old Testament 
has 2,728,100 letters and the New Testament 
388,380; total, 3,566,480. 



BOOK OUTLINES OF THE BIBLE 69 

BOOK OUTLINES. 

The following brief outlines are intended to 
give a comprehensive view of each book with 
the simplest possible divisions. The thought 
is to so emphasize the few main points of a 
book that they may be easily remembered and 
utilized for further study. The Bible itself is 
to be used in connection with these outlines. 
The Law Books* 

Genesis, a book of beginnings, may be 
separated into two parts — I. The Original- 
History of the World or of mankind. It gives 
the origin of the World, of man, of sin, of re- 
demption, of the family and of civilization. Ch. 
1-11. II. The early History of the Patriarchs 
or fathers of the Jewish race. From the call of 
Abraham to the death of Joseph Ch. 12 50. 
The period of time covered by the Book of 
Genesis is recorded as 2,300 years. 

The purpose of the book is to reveal the 
unity of God, the unity of the human family 
and to show how God began to give a Divine 
Religion to mankind. 

Exodus, a book of Redemption, has three 
main divisions. I. Preparation for the de- 
liverance and departure of the Israelites, 
Ch. 1-12: 30. II. Their Journeyings from 
Egypt to Sinai, Ch. 12 :31— 19 :2. ill. The 
happenings at Sinai — Law, Theocracy and 
Tabernacle, Ch. 19:3-40. The book com- 



70 BIBLE MASTERY 

prises a period from the death of Joseph 
to the erection of the Tabernacle, about 145 
years. Some make it 315 or even 360 years. 
The laws revealed are moral, ceremonial and 
civil. The book illustrates the attributes of 
God, the character of man and the great work 
of man's redemption. 

Leviticus, a book of laws, contains the form 
of approach to the Holy God by a sinful yet 
chosen people. There are three principal sec - 
tions. I. Fundamental laws of Sacrifice, Puri- 
fication and Atonement, Ch. 1-16. II. The 
Law of Holiness, Ch. 17-26. III. Regulations 
concerning Vows and Tithes. Ch. 18-27. The 
history of this book is comprised within one 
month, the thirteenth month after the Exodus. 
It is a continuation of Exodus which closes 
with the completion of the Tabernacle. Its 
special interest centers in the fact that the 
sacrifices and oblations referrred to point to 
the atonement to be made centuries afterward 
by the Savior. The Epistle to the Hebrews 
is an inspired commentary upon the book of 
L,eviticus. 

Numbers, a book of wanderings, is a brief 
record of what the nation did from the second 
year after leaving Egypt up to its arrival at the 
borders of Canan in the fortieth year of the jour- 
neying — time about thirty ■ eight years. In L,e - 
viticus the lessons are given; in Numbers, we 



BOOK OUTLINES OF THE BIBLE 71 

ihe nation at school getting the lessons in 
warfare and hardship that made them coura- 
geous and self-reliant. The book may be 
divided into three sections: I. The Prepara- 
tion made to enter the Promised L,and. Ch. 
1-10: 10. II. The March from Sinai to Moab 
Ch. 10: 11-20, 11:1-47. III. The Victory. 
Ch. 22-36. The two numberings are important 
as showing the results of sin. Even the op- 
pression of Egypt had not stopped their ex- 
traordinary increase but sin had done so here. 
Ch. 2 : 32 and 26:51. 

Deuteronomy, a book of repetition, contains 
the record of three addresses which Moses de- 
livered to the people on the plains of Moab at 
the close of the Desert wanderings. It tells 
also of the appointment of his successor, of 
his song and blessing and an account of his 
death. 

The 7iecessity for the book seemed to have 
arisen from the fact that a new generation had 
grown up which had not heard the original 
promulgation of the L,aw at Sinai; that a new 
country with the most seductive kind of idol- 
atrous worship was before the nation and 
that the people who had led a nomadic life 
would now be settled in cities and villages and 
be tillers of the land, and therefore must be 
shown the need of conforming their lives and 
conduct in these new relations to'God's laws. 



72 BIBLE MASTERY 

The three divisions are: I. Remembrance of 
God's care, the first address, &c, Ch. 1-4 
II. Exposition of the law, the second address, 
Ch. 5-26. III. Renewal of the Covenant, the 
third address and conclusion, Ch. 27-34. 

The book is not a full compendium of the 
Law; important sections are omitted and suit- 
able additions are made. The book of Gen- 
esis constitutes a fitting introduction to the 
Pentateuch while that of Deuteronomy brings 
it to a sublime close. The five books taken 
together, embrace a period of 2,553 years in 
the history of the world, or down to the year B. 
C. 1451. The Pentateuch is supposed to have 
been written by Moses. 

The Historical Books* 

The twelve Historical Books in the Old 
Testament contain the history of Israel from 
the first occupation of the Promised Land to 
the return from captivity. 

Joshua, a book of conquest, is the first of 
the historical books of the Old Testament, 
and so called because it is a record of the 
affairs of the Israelites under the leadership 
of Joshua, the successor of Moses. It com- 
prises the history of twenty -five or thirty 
years, from the death of Moses to the death 
of Joshua, and it is a mos" 'necessary and 
valuable continuation of the national records 
oi Israel. Joshua is supposed to have writ- 



HISTORICAL BOOKS OF THE BIBLK 73 

ten the book. The book of Joshua is usually 
divided into three parts. I. The Conquest of 
Canaan, by the Israelites; Ch. 1 -12. II. 
Assignment of the Land; Ch. 13-22 III. 
Joshua's Farewell Address and Account of 
His Death; Ch. 23-24, Joshua was born a 
slave in the brickfields of Egypt. He was a 
trusted and courageous counsellor and leader 
during the wilderness wanderings. He was 
appointed by Moses as his successor when 
about eighty years of age. It is an interest- 
ing Bible study to follow him across the Jor- 
dan and note the incidents in his three great 
campaigns, Central, Southern and Northerri. 

Judges, a book of deliverances, is so named 
on account of its recording the history of four - 
teen supreme rulers, deliverers of the people, 
called judges. These judges were persons 
whom God at different times raised up from 
the several tribes, and endowed with extraor- 
dinary courage, wisdom, or piety, qualifying 
them to be deliverers and governors of the 
people. They are not to be confounded with 
the ordinary judges under the Theocracy, ap- 
pointed by Moses as Municipal helpers rather 
than great deliverers and leaders. The list 
of the- judges stands thus: 1, Othniel , 2, 
Ehud: 3, Shamgar; 4, 5, Deborah and Ba- 
rak; 6, Gideon, 7, Abimelech ; 8, Tola; 9, 
Jair; 10, Jephthah ; 11, Ibzan; 12, Elon ; 



74 BIBLK MASTERY 

13, Abdon ; 14, Samson. Six of the judges 
are spoken of at length, while the account of 
the rest is brief. Eli and Samuel are also 
classed among the judges. The book is a 
series of historical pictures revealing the con- 
dition of the country, the people and the 
times. It tells of the nation's conflicts with 
itself and its Canaanitish neighbors when 
there was no kingdom in the land. Since the 
departure from Egypt the Israelites had been 
under the leadership of two remarkable men 
— Moses and Joshua. Now these leaders are 
dead, the tribes are scattered and they have 
no king, no common master ; hence the need 
of raising up these deliverers — judges. The 
divisions of the book are: I. The condition 
of Israel after the death of Joshua until they 
began to turn aside from serving the Lord. 
Cb. 1-3:4. II. Israel's oppression and de- 
liverance. Ch. 3: 5 -16. III. An appendix 
narrating two events : the idolatry of the 
Danites and the extermination of the tribe 
of Benjamin. Ch. 17-21. The authorship of 
the Book of Judges is very uncertain, though, 
it has been generally ascribed to Samuel. 
The period comprised in the book has been 
estimated from 300 to 400 years, from the 
death of Joshua to the death of Samson. 

Ruth is properly a continuation of Judges, 
and was so classed in the Old Testament 



HISTORICAL BOOKS OF THE BIBLE 75 

until about the middle of the fifth century 
after Christ. It is very important because it 
gives the lineage of David through the whole 
period of the judges, and, by the adoption of 
Ruth, a heathen proselyte, into the Jewish 
Church and into the line of the Saviour's an- 
cestry, there seems to be the intimation of the 
future ingathering of the Gentiles into the 
church of the coming Founder and King. 

Like the Book of Judges, it also treats of 
the life of Israel from the death of Joshua to 
the rule of Eli. The book may be divided 
into three sections : I. An account of Naomi's 
departure, her life away and return to the land 
of Israel. Ch. 1. II. The interview of Boaz 
with Ruth, and their marriage. Ch. 2 -4 :12. 
III. The birth of Obed, the son of Boaz and 
Ruth, from whom David sprang. Ch. 4: 
13-22, 

THE THREE DOUBLES 

The Samuels, Kmg;s> Chronicles* 

In the three double books of Samuel, Kings 
and Chronicles is found the record of the rise, 
glory and fall, of the Israelitish monarchy. 
The great event in the books of Samuel is the 
establishment of a monarchy. 

The Two Books of Samuel, books of the 
kingdom, constituted originally a single book, 
but for convenience was divided by the 



76 BIBI/E MASTERY 

Greek translators so as to close the first book 
with the death of Saul and begin the second 
with the accession of David. The books 
were probably written by Samuel, Nathan and 
Gad. The divisions are : I. The Administra- 
tion of Samuel. Ch. I Samuel, 1-12. II. The 
Administration of Saul. Ch. I Samuel, 13-31. 
III. The Administration of David. Ch. II. 
Samuel, 1 -24. The first book of Samuel com- 
prises a period of about 100 years; the second, 
from 40 to 50 years. The books of Samuel 
are important as illustrating the Psalms. 

The Two Books of Kings, representing 
Kings, give us the history of the death of 
David, the reign of Solomon, the divided 
kingdom, and the captivity. The truth of 
this history stands to day beyond question. 
The contact with Assyria, Egypt and Baby- 
lon, is confirmed by the cuneiform and other 
inscriptions. The divisions are: I. The 
Reign of Solomon. Ch. I Kings 1 11. II. 
The Divided Kingdom. Ch. I Kings 12. II. 
Kings 1-18. III. The Kingdom of Judah. 
Ch. II. Kings 19-25. 

The Two Books of Chronicles — The His- 
tory of Judah, — were originally one volume, 
as they are now in the Hebrew Canon, and 
ought to be so in ours. Beginning with Gene- 
sis, the books, up to this time, have fitted one 
into the other, recording a continuous his- 



HISTORICAL BOOKS OF THE BIBLE 77 

tory, but now the connection is broken; the 
author, possibly Ezra, goes back to Adam, 
and with connected narrative parallels that 
of all the previous books of Scripture from 
Genesis to second Kings, a period of nearly 
3,500 years. There are a number of marked 
contrasts between these and the preceding 
books that call for notice. The tribes, or a 
remnant of them," had returned from captiv- 
ity ; and in order that the land might be 
properly allotted and the Temple service 
rightly maintained, "there must be legal 
proof of hereditary descent.' ' These tables 
furnished this proof. The narrative follows 
the line of Judah, Israel not being mentioned 
except where obliged to do so, The line of 
the Messiah is through David. These books 
are made the beginning of an ecclesiastical 
history which extends through the books of 
Ezra and Nehemiah. There are important 
facts in the earlier books not in the Chron- 
icles, and facts in the Chronicles not found in 
the earlier books. The additions may have 
been derived partly from documents not now in 
existence, and partly, perhaps, from trad- 
ition. Divisions: I. Introductory, I Chron- 
icles, 1 : 1-10. II. Reign of David, I. Chron- 
icles, Ch. 11 -29. III. History of Solomon, II 
Chronicles, Ch. 1-9. IV. The Kingdom of 
Judah II Chronicles, Ch. 10-36. 



78 BIBLE MASTERY 

Ezra and Nehemiah, books of return and 
rebuilding, give "a graphic account of the 
state of Jerusalem and the returned captives ; 
the condition of the Persian Government and 
its remote provinces." The last three verses 
of Chronicles and the first three of Ezra are 
identical. From this fact and the similarity 
of diction and style it is believed that the two 
books were originally one. The Book of 
Ezrais&n important continuation of the Jew- 
ish history after the return of the people from 
their seventy years' captivity in Babylon. It 
embraces a period of about eighty years; 
from the decree of Cyrus, B. C. 536, to the 
reformation by Ezra, B. C. 456, Divisions: 
I. The Return of the Jews to Judea and the 
Rebuilding of the Temple at Jerusalem. Ch. 
1-6. II. Ezra's Arrival at Jerusalem, and the 
Reformation Effected. Ch.7-10. The Book of 
Nehemiah refers to a period several years later 
than that of Ezra. Nehemiah came to Jeru- 
salem about thirteen years after Ezra, and 
when he had governed Judea about twelve 
years he returned to Artaxerxes, who granted 
him a new commission, with which he went 
to Jerusalem again. He ruled * among the 
Jews altogether about thirty -four years. Ne- 
hemiah was regarded as the author of the 
book, though the latter part of it is probably 
of later origin. Divisions: I. The Commis- 



HISTORICAL BOOKS OF THE BIBLE 79 

sion and Journey of Nehemiah to Jerusalem. 
Ch. 1-2:11. II. The Rebuilding of the 
Walls of the City, notwithstanding the oppo- 
sition, Ch. 2:12-7:4. III. The first Re- 
formation Accomplished by Nehemiah, and 
the Sealing of the Covenant to Serve the 
Lord. Ch. 7:5-12:47. IV. The Second Re- 
formation, on Neherniah's Second Residence; 
Ch. 13. The Book of Nehemiah closes the 
Old Testament history in the year of the 
world 3584, and 420 B. C. Malachi, the last 
of the prophets, was a contemporary of Ne- 
hemiah. 

Esther, a book illustrating Providence, 
takes its name from the Jewish maiden who 
became the queen of a Persian king, Ahasu- 
erus, who had been sometimes identified with 
Artaxerxes Iyongimanus, but who is now 
identified more usually, and more probably 
with Xerxes, the invader of Greece. The 
supposition that the narrative is derived from 
the Persian will account for the omission of 
the name of God in the book; it accounts, 
also, for Esther being designated by the title 
of queen, for Mordecai being spoken of as 
"the Jew," and likewise for the use of the 
Persian word Purim. Divisions : I. The 
Elevation of Esther to be Queen in the place 
of Vashti, Ch. 1-2. II. The Advancement 
of Haman and his Plot for the Destruction of 



80 BIBLE MASTERY 

the Jews, Ch. 3. III. The Consequent Dis- 
tress, the Defeat of Hainan's Plot, the Tri- 
umph of the Jews over their Enemies, and 
the institution of the Feast of Purim, Ch. 
4-10. The authenticity of this book has al- 
ways been acknowledged by the Jews, and 
regarded by them as next in importance to 
the Pentateuch. The book seems to have 
been written to explain the origin of the feast 
of Purim. 

Job, a book of suffering and trust, stands 
by itself and makes no allusion to Mosaic 
Law and Israelitish history. It is one of the 
so called Wisdom Books of the Bible; the 
other two are Proverbs and Kcclesiastes. 
This book derives its name from the person 
whose history it records. The authorship of 
the book has been variously attributed to 
Job, himself, to Elihu, to Moses, and some 
unknown writer. The object of the book 
seems to be "to justify the ways of God to 
man," Its divisions are: I. An Account of 
Job's Circumstances and Trials, Ch. 1-2. II. 
The several controversies, three in number, 
between Job and his three friends, Ch. 3 31 . 
III. The summing up of the argument by 
Elihu (a younger friend of Job) who cen- 
sures all the disputants, Ch. 31 37. IV. The 
awfully sublime address of the Lord to Job, 
delivered out of a whirlwind, Ch. 38-41. V. 



HISTORICAL BOOKS OF THE BIB^K 81 

The restoration of Job's health, friends, prop- 
erty, and his sacrifice and intercession on be- 
half of his censorious friend, Ch. 42. 

Psalms, a book of experience, is " a mar- 
velous record of human hearts pouring them- 
selves out from age to age in communion with 
God." This record is not one book, bid five 
distinct collections of sacred poetry , and they 
contain the work of a number of authors. 
They were written during a period of about 
one thousand years ; if the 90th Psalm was 
written by Moses this time will be greatly 
extended. There are altogether 150 Psalms; 
100 bear the names of persons, 16 have head- 
ings without names, and 34 have no head- 
ings. To David are ascribed 73, to Asaph, 
12; to sons of Kora, 12; to Heman, 1; to 
Ethan, 1 ; to Moses 1, and to Solomon 2. 

The subjects are so many and varied that 
it is hardly possible to classify them. They 
touch upon every human experience and 
every hope of man. The leading themes are 
Creation, the King, Jerusalem, the Law, the 
Messiah, The Future, God's Love, Mercy, 
Justice and Goodness. The prevailing to?ie 
is praise. While some are very joyful others 
are sad and plaintive, and still others philo- 
sophical. The divisions into five parts or 
books are of great antiquity, and have been 
compared to the five books of the Penta- 



82 BIBI.K MASTERY 

teuch. The end of each division is marked 
by a doxology. I. First Division, i -41. II. 
Second Division, 42 -72. III. Third Division, 
73-89. IV, Fourth Division, 90 106: Fifth 
Division, 107 -150, 

Proverbs, a wisdom book, is a part of the 
wisdom literature of the Hebrews. It is not 
simply a collection of witty and wise say- 
ings, but there is in it a distinct philosophy 
of life. There are two great problems con- 
sidered, the moral government of the world 
and the duty of man in such a world. They 
cover the whole range of Divine arts, ethics, 
politics, economics, — that is, the government 
of behavior, commonwealth and family. 
Not only is the last chapter " a looking glass 
for ladies/ ' but the whole book is a mirror 
for both sexes and for all classes. The book 
is composed of various collections of pro- 
verbs. Ewald assigns the earliest to the be- 
ginning of the eighth century, B.C. The names 
of the most prominent authors and collectors 
are Solomon, Hezekiah, Argur and King 
Lemuel. The whole of the book of Proverbs 
— excepting the last two chapters — was either 
written by Solomon or adopted by him. 
He is said (I Kings, 4:32) to have written 
11 three thousand proverbs" from which most 
of these are doubtless a selection. The wise 
men were a distinct class, apart from priests 



HISTORICAL BOOKS OF THE BIBLE 83 

and prophets. They were famous in the 
East. There are two voices and two ways put 
in contrast ; 1« Words and ways of wisdom, 
understanding, knowledge, prudence, subtle- 
ty, instruction and discretion, 2. The voice 
utters words of folly, simplicity, brutishness, 
stupidity, ignorance and villainy. Wisdom , 
personified 'utters her voice,' ' and Folly 
also gives her invitations. Divisions: I. 
The Praise of Wisdom, Ch. 1-9. II. The 
Proverbs of Solomon, Ch. 10 -22:16. III. The 
Sayings of the Wise, Ch. 22: 17-24. IV. 
A second collection of Solomon's Proverbs, 
Ch. 25^29. V. The Words of Agur, Ch. 30. 
VI- The Words of King Lemuel, Ch. 31 : 
1-9. VII. An Acrostic Poem, Ch. 31: 10- 
31. These proverbs, like all proverbs, need 
to be interpreted as generally rather than uni- 
versally true. 

Ecclesiastes, signifying preacher , ' ' consists 
of meditations upon human life and society 
placed in the mouth of the wise king." At 
first the author seems to be a pessimist ; an 
evil man turned moralist, of a sour and bit- 
ter spirit. But a closer study of the book 
shows that the author has a wise purpose in 
mind. >The design of the book has been 
well described as " The quest or search for 
the chief good." The uniform belief of the 
ancient Church was that Solomon wrote this 



84 BIBLK MASTERY 

book in his old age, when he was brought to 
repentance for the idolatrous practice into 
which his heathen wives had seduced him. 
Divisions: I. The problem to be solved, 
stated, Ch. 1 : 1-11. II. Depicts the endeavor 
to solve it through wisdom and pleasure. Ch. 
1: 12-2: -26. III. The quest pursued in 
traffic and political life, Ch. 3 : 1 -5 : 20, IV. 
The quest is carried into wealth and into the 
golden mean, Ch. 6:1-7:15. V. The quest 
is achieved and the chief good is found to con- 
sist in a tranquil and cheerful enjoyment of 
the present life, combined with a cordial faith 
in God and in the life to come. Ch. 8 :16-12. 
The conclusion of the twelfth chapter is a 
beautiful exhortation to " Remember the 
Creator in youth." The book was never re- 
ceived by the Jews as one of the poetical 
books. Most of it is written in prose. 

The Song of Solomon, Union, sometimes 
called Canticles, is a dramatic love song, 
consisting of a dialogue between the lover 
and the loved one. It is the story of a 
beautiful peasant girl, a native of the north- 
ern village, Shunem, who was carried away 
by Solomon's officers and confined in his 
harem at Jerusalem. In the midst of all 
the splendor with which she is then surround - 
ed, her heart is still true to the peasant lover 
whom she has left behind. Her honor re- 



HISTORICAL BOOKS OF THE BIBLK 85 

mains unstained, and she is finally carried 
back ho:ne, heart-whole and happy by the 
swain who catne to Jerusalem for her rescue. 
Divisions : I, The King's first attempt to 
win the love of the Shulamite. Ch. 1-2 : 7. 
II. The King's second attempt to induce the 
maiden to love him. Ch. 2 :8 -5 :8. III. Third 
attempt of the King to win the maiden. Ch, 
5:9-6 8:4. IV. Triumph of the Shulamite. 
Ch. 8: 5-14. 

Isaiah (Messiah), the greatest of all the 
prophets of the Old Testament, sometimes 
called 'The Evangelical Prophet," was a 
prince amid a generation of princes, and has 
been always regarded as the royal prophet of 
Israel. Though Isaiah was a prophet of Ju- 
dah, his vision is not restricted to his parti- 
cular kingdom or to his own nation and own 
times, but he regards all nations and all 
times. He foretells the glory of the Messiah; 
he gives the outline of God's purpose towards 
Judah and the world, and indicates the final 
restoration of the Church- Isaiah lived to 
be 100 years old, and it is said was barbar- 
ously murdered, being sawn asunder by that 
man of blood, Manasseh. Divisions: There 
are two main divisions. I. The prophecies 
about Judah and Israel and foreign nations. 
The great enemy is Assyria. Ch 1-39. 
(Same number of Old Testament books). II. 



$6 BIBLE MASTERY 

" The Books of Consolations ;" the restora- 
tion of Israel ; the Messianic King ; the great 
enemy is Babylon. Ch. 40-66, (27, same 
number as New Testament books). 

Jeremiah, a book of warnings, is a com- 
bination of history, biography, and pro- 
phecy. It marks the utter destruction of a 
holy city and sanctuary, and closes the period 
of the monarchy. It treats of the death 
agony of a nation, and that nation the chosen 
people of God. Judah was taken into cap- 
tivity by Babylon because of sin. Jeremiah's 
mission was a sad one, that of a would-be 
reformer endeavoring to stem the tide of 
growing evil. He was compelled to rebuke 
wrong and to pronounce the judgments of 
God against the wrong-doers. As a conse- 
quence, the patriotic prophet was met with 
such a perfect storm of reproaches, insults, 
threats and suffering, as might have appalled 
the stoutest heart. His public life was a pro- 
longed martyrdom. Divisions: I. The pro- 
phet's utterances against Judah, with items 
of his own persona] history. Ch.1-44. II. His 
predictions concerning the foreign or gentile 
nations, especially Babylon. Ch. 46-51. Ch. 
45 is an independent fragment, and 52 is an 
appendix taken largely from II. Kings 25. 

Lamentations, book of tears, consists of 
five independent poems, all dealing with the 



HISTORICAL BOOKS OF THK BIBLK 87 

calamities that befell the people of Judah 
and Jerusalem in consequence of the siege 
and capture of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans. 
Each chapter of this book is a separate poem. 
In the first Lament, Zion appears a weeping 
widow in the habiliments of Woe ; in the 
three following, the holy city in ruins; while 
in the fifth the people chant mournfully, con- 
fess their sin, bewail their woe and appeal to 
the pity of God. Poetical in form, as well 
as in fact, these Lamentations of Jeremiah 
would seem to properly belong in the poeti- 
cal division of the Old Testament books. 

Ezekielt book of visions, may be divided 
into three groups of prophecies: I. Predic- 
tions of the downfall of Judah and Jerusa- 
lem. Ch. 1-24. II. Predictions concern- 
ing foreign nations. Ch. 25-32. III. The 
restoration of Israel. Ch. 33-49. Ezekiel 
prophesied by Chebar in Babylon, betweeti 
the captivities of Jehoiachin and Zedekiah, 
the last two kings of Judah. He reanimated 
the people and prepared them for the restora- 
tion. 

Daniel, a book of victory, discloses the 
philosophy of history, both sacred and pro- 
fane. It predicts the course of four great 
world empires and the rise and triumph of the 
kingdom of God. The Book of Daniel con- 
sists of twelve chapters; six relating to his 



88 BIBI.K MASTERY 

history and six to his dreams and visions. 
Daniel was a noble youth taken into custody 
by King- Nebuchadnezzar. He was received 
into the palace and educated by order of the 
King. He first came into notice through his 
interpretation of the dream (Ch. 21) of King 
Nebuchadnezzar. He held the highest gov- 
ernment posts under the Chaldean, Median, 
and Persian dynasties. He lived through 
the whole period of the captivity, and saw 
the return under King Cyrus. As a man he 
was very devout; as a statesman and pro- 
phet, few if any equal him. 

Hosea and Amos set forth the judgments 
impending over Israel because of sin and the 
captivity by Assyria. They show that the 
hope of Israel is in the coming of the Mes- 
siah. Hosea was a prophet of Israel, and 
but little is known of him except what he 
tells us. The two parts of his book are: I. 
Unfaithful Israel. Ch. 1-3. II. Sin, pun 
ishment, repentance, restoration. Ch. 4-14. 
Amos, third in the list of minor prophets, is 
second in point of time, and should be so 
considered. There are three divisions: I. 
Condemnation of heathen nations. Ch. 1-2. 
II. Arraignment and doom of Israel. Ch. 
3-6. III. Five visions and history. Ch. 7 -9. 

Joel x^redicted judgments to come upon 
Judab on account of her evil ways; he also 



HISTORICAL BOOKS OF THE BIBLE 89 

prophesied restoration upon penitence, and 
the outpouring of God's Spirit upon His 
people. Divisions: I, A call to repentance. 
Ch. 1-2:17. II. A promise of blessing, Ch. 
2:18-3. 

Obadiah furnished the shortest book in the 
Old Testament, and briefest of all the pro- 
phecies ; he predicted the downfall of Edom, 
and the glory of Jehovah's kingdom. He is 
one of the prophets to the Gentiles exclusive- 
ly. Divisions: I. The judgment announced. 
Ch. 1: 1-9. II. Its justification. Ch. 1: 
10-16. III. Salvation promised. Ch. 1: 
17-16. 

The Book of Jonah is a narrative, and 
"the history of a prophecy," rather than a 
prophecy itself. In both contents and form 
it is like the narratives of Elijah and Elisha. 
The idea of the author was to teach ex- 
clusively, great moral and spiritual lessons, 
although the story is full c* the miraculous 
element. The crux of all the critics, ortho- 
dox and heterodox, is the story of Jonah and 
the whale — the fish story of the Bible. Div- 
isions : I. The call of Jonah. Ch. 1-2. II. 
The preaching of Jonah. Ch. 3. III. Jon- 
ah's anger and God's mercy. Ch. 4. 

Micah predicted the captivity of Israel by 
Assyria, and Judah by Babylon ; the restor- 



90 BIBI.K MASTERY 

ation of Judah, the birthplace of Christ, His 
Divine nature, and the universality of His 
kingdom. One of the most remarkable mes- 
sianic prophecies occurs in this book. It was 
this prophecy which enabled the Jewish doc- 
tors to answer the question of Herod, " Where 
Christ should be born," Divisions : I. Judg- 
ment for national sins. Ch. 1-2. II. Judg- 
ment for social sins. Ch. 3-5. III. Judg- 
ment for covenant breaking. Ch. 6-7. 

Nahum prophesied with reference to a 
single theme, the destruction of Nineveh, the 
capital of Assyria. The Assyrian Empire 
stood in the eyes of the Jews as the most 
brutal type of heathen abominations. The 
monuments have confirmed their opinion. To 
rightly understand Nahum we must compare 
his prophecy with that of Jonah. The two 
prophecies are connected parts of the same 
history; the remission of God's judgments 
being illustrated in Jonah, the execution of 
them in Nahum. Divisions: I. The doom of 
Nineveh pronounced. Ch. 1. II. The assault 
upon Nineveh. Ch. 2. III. The utter ruin 
of Nineveh. Ch. 3.* 

Habakkuk predicted judgments to come 
upon the holy city from the Chaldeans; then 

* Note.— This prophecy was fulfilled in 607 B. C, and there 
has been 110 new Assyrian Empire since that time. The Chal- 
dean Empire is the next world power, with Babylon as its 
capital. 



HISTORICAL BOOKS OF THE BIBLE 91 

the overthrow in turn of the Chaldeans , them - 
selves, To answer the question why wicked- 
ness seems to triumph, and to vindicate God's 
righteousness, the prophecy is thrown into 
the form of a dramatic dialogue between 
Habakkuk and Jehovah. Divisions : I. The 
problem of the seeming triumph of wrong. 
Ch. 1. II. God's second answer, Ch. 2. 
III. God's third answer. Ch. 3. 

Zephaniah was peculiarly a preacher of 
righteousness, and denounced the evils of 
his age in unsparing terms. Through this 
preaching a great reformation followed. Div- 
isions : I. The judgment for sin announced. 
Ch. 1. II. Repentance urged. Ch. 2 3 :7. 
III. Promise of blessing to the faithful rem- 
nant. Ch. 3 : 8-20. 

Hagfgai and Zechariah were, in all prob- 
ability, among the exiles who returned with 
Zerubbabel from Babylon. They were pro- 
phets of the restoration, acd encouraged the 
rebuilding of the temple and the re -estab- 
lishment of this religious center for awaken- 
ing the expectation of the coming of Christ, 
throughout the world. Divisions: Haggai,I. 
An Appeal to Rebuild the Temple, Ch. 1, II. 
The more glorious New Temple, Ch'. 2 :9. 
III. A Blessing, with the New Temple, Ch. 
2: 10-19. IV. A special Promise to Prince 



92 BIBLE MASTERY 

Zerubbabel, Ch. 2: 20-23. Zechariah. I. 
The Rebuilding of the Temple, Ch. 18, II. 
The Messianic King and Kingdom, Ch. 9-14. 

Malachi, after the restoration and rebuild- 
ing of the temple and Jerusalem, encouraged 
the people to a more steadfast faith in God 
and a certain expectation of the coming of 
Christ. Divisions: I. God's Love for His 
People, Ch. 1: 2 5. II. Israel's Lack of 
Love for God, Ch. 1:6-2: 1-16. III. God's 
Moral Government of the World, Ch. 2:17- 
3: 1-6, IV. Results of Israel's Sin,Ch.3: 
7-12. V. Results of Serving God, Ch, 3: 
13 4: 1-6. 



1i 



THE NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS 93 



NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS * 



The following brief outlines are intended 
to give a clear, related view of the New Testa - 
ment Books and their writers. It is hoped 
that the main facts here given will be easily 
learned, and so stimulate the student that 
with new interest and a more intelligent ap- 
preciation, the Scriptures may be searched 
and better understood. The books of the 
New Testament are The Four Gospels, The 
Acts, The Epistles, and Revelation, 

1. The word gospel means " glad tid- 
ings," " good news." Primarily it de- 
scribes the message (Mark 1:1), but since 
the second century the name has attached it- 
self to the books as well. The four gospels 
are independent narratives in the life of Christ; 
each has matter that the other has not. 

2. The Synoptic gospels (seeing together), 
the first three, while differing in manyrespects, 
cover the same ground, and for this reason are 
commonly called the synoptic gospels. 

3. The Writers' names are not mentioned 
in the gospels. For these we are dependent 



* For a more detailed study of the New Testament, refer- 
ence is made to my " Supplemental New Testament Studies." 



94 BIBI,E MASTERY 

upon tradition and upon certain internal evi- 
dences: (Luke 1 : 1-4 and Acts 1:1). The 
purpose of the four authors was to bring to 
the attention of men the main facts in the 
life of Jesus and to proclaim salvation for 
all in His Name. Each writer had a special 
message to deliver. 

Matthew's Gospel is the oldest, and was 
written probably between 38 and 42 A. D., 
within a few years of the Crucifixion. Some 
scholars place it about 60 A. D., which is 
possibly correct if the Greek version is 
meant. The ancient tradition of the Church 
that Matthew wrote first in Hebrew or Ara- 
maic, is now generally believed. The book 
is characterized by the large space devoted to 
the teachings of Jesus (Ch. 5-7); to the 
methodical arrangement, not chronologically 
but in the order of thought. The parables, 
discourses, and miracles are grouped to show 
a completed whole. Emphasis is placed upon 
the descent of Jesus from the house of David 
and the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy 
(l : 1-17), making clear the purpose of the 
book, viz,, to present Jesus as the King of 
the Jews — the long expected Messiah. 

Matthew was one of the apostles, the son 
of Alphseus, and a tax gatherer (Matt. 9:9; 
10: 3). As he had another name (Mark 
2 : 14), Matthew may have been adopted as 



THE NKW TKSTAMRNT BOOKS 95 

his new Christian name. He was a Hebrew 
and citizen of Capernaum in Galilee. 

Mark was written about 65 A, D., in Rome 
by John Mark, the son of one of the New Tes- 
tament Marys (Acts 12 : 12-27). He was a 
cousin of Barnabas (Col. 41: 10), and was 
associated with Paul in his ministry. 

The style of the book is very graphic, and 
there is a wealth of information as to persons, 
places, customs and terms. He uses the pres- 
ent tense. The word " straightway " occurs 
forty-one times. He wrote for the Gentiles 
or Romans, No genealogy is given, as none 
was needed in writing to the Romans. They 
could not appreciate a Jewish Messiah. The 
watchword is " Power. V The dominant idea 
is the wonder-working life of Jesus, in an 
incessant, sympathetic activity. 

Luke was written about 63 A. D., in Rome 
by L,uke,a physician, a companion and friend 
of Paul. He wrote the Acts, also, later. 
Acts : 1-2 and Luke 1 : 1-4. The preface of 
this gospel fully describes its purpose. The 
message is to Jew and Gentile. The geneal- 
ogy of Christ is traced to Adam, the progen- 
itor of the whole race, to connect Him with 
the human race and not merely with the 
Israelitish nation. Jesus is set forth as the 
Saviour of Jew and Gentile, the friend of the 



96 BIBLE MASTERY 

outcast. The world -wide character of Christi- 
anity is clearly indicated. 

John's Gospel was written long after the 
others, from 80 A. D. to 96 A. D. It was 
probably written near the close of the Apos- 
tle's life, a;.d the larger opinion favors 96 
A. D. The message of the book is to Christ- 
ians. John, the " beloved," writes as an eye- 
witness, and seeks to induce faith in Christ, 
and to reveal the spiritual Christ. The word 
" believe " appears 101 times; the key-note 
of its purpose is " The Word was with God, 
and the Word was God." It is the divinity 
of Jesus, God -man, that is specially pressed. 
It supplements the other gospels and settles 
all doubt as to the divinity and deity of 
Jesus. 

The Acts is a missionary record of the 
early Church, and shows the conflicts and 
conquests of Christianity from the ascension 
of our Lord to the first imprisonment of Paul 
in the city of Rome. It gives an accov.nt of 
the organization of the primitive Church, and 
shows how the gospel spread from Jerusalem 
to imperial Rome. Luke, the author, was a 
Gentile convert, the only Gentile writer ot the 
Bible. He was born at Antioch in Syria, 300 
miles northeast of Jerusalem, and was prob- 
ably converted under Paul's preaching. ' He 



THE NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS 97 

wrote the Acts about 65 or 66 A. D., for it 
ends with Paul a prisoner at Rome. 

The Epistles are twenty one letters written 
to particular churches or individuals, or to 
Christians generally, for the purpose of ex- 
plaining and setting forth the doctrines and 
duties of the Christian religion, and to cor- 
rect abuses which arose from contact with 
surrounding heathen. According to the cus- 
tom of the time they open with the name or 
title of the writer and that of the person or 
church addressed, followed bywords of greet- 
ing. Hebrews and I John are exceptions. 
There were five writers, and six, if Paul did 
not write Hebrews. They were Paul, Peter, 
John, James, Jude, all eminently fitted to 
perform the task of presenting the truths of 
the gospel. Paul's theme is Faith, James,' 
Works; Peter's, Hope ; John's, L,ove; Jude's, 
Warning. 

Revelation, written by John, the Apostle, 
during his exile on the Isle of Patmos, pos- 
sibly about 68 A. D., is a book of Wonders, 
of Seals and Revealed Triitk. 





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BIBLE HISTORY 99 



PART II. 



BIBLE HISTORY 



The Bible is essentially a historical book, 
and must be studied as such in order to ac- 
quire a thorough knowledge of the Scrip- 
tures. This phase of Bible study is not only 
beneficial but specially delightful. It is from 
this view point that we can note the lines of 
religious development in the life of the race. 
The Bible unfolds to us a succession of ages 
or periods of dispensatio?i in the history of man 
with changing conditions and divine actings 
towards him. It shows that God has been 
actively at work for mankind in the past, and 
that he is still engaged on the same plan en- 
larged. It is interesting to see the extending 
sphere of grace. At first God's work is with 
the individuals, then later with families, af- 
terwards with a nation, and now with a world- 
wide body, the Church ; and still later, not 
only the whole world but other worlds come 
within the sphere of grace. 

It clarifies our vision to study the various 
divine covenants given to man, beginning 
with the first to Adam, followed with a sec- 
ond to Noah, a third to Abraham, a fourth to 



100 BIBI.K MASTERY 

Israel, a fifth to David, a sixth to us in Christ, 
and a seventh to the world in the New Earth. 
All these are but displays of the everlasting 
covenant given Christ in the eternal ages. 

We shall also discover in this study a de- 
velopment of truth. Enoch learns more than 
Adam, and Noah more than he; and so 
Abraham, Moses and others down to Christ 
and His Apostles receive even greater revela- 
tions, and at last John, the greatest of all. 
The Godly characters of the successive per- 
sons who are presented in the Bible are greater, 
spiritually, than those who were before them. 

The great theme of the Bible is the revela- 
tion of Christ, He is seen first with the 
Father in the eternal past, then in creation, 
afterwards with the Old Testament Church, 
later in earthly life, now in his present state 
and the coming of the Lord, and at last in the 
eternal future. This eternal view of Christ is 
the view of the Bible. It is to reveal God, 
for Christ is the revelation of God. 

The general knowledge of the Bible in- 
tended to be gained by these outlines will be 
greatly facilitated by fixing firmly in mind 
the well defined periods with the events which 
bound them, the prominent men of each 
period and the principal events of these men's 
lives. This, in a special sense, applies to 
the study of the Old Testament. 



BIBLE HISTORY 101 

The Bible may be divided iuto seven pe- 
riods : 

(1) Period of the Human Race. This 
begins with the creation and ends with the 
Call of Abraham. The history of mankind 
in general, is herein given. 

(2) Period of the Chosen Family- This 
period begins with the Call of Abraham and 
closes with the Call of Moses. Jewish history 
begins with the Call of Abraham, and this 
period deals with the immediate family of this 
founder of his race. It is the record as one 
family, chosen for a special work. 

(3) Period of the Israelitish People. This 
period is bounded by the Call of Moses and 
the Coronation of Saul. The Chosen family 
have become a mighty people. Their king is 
God who rules direct through chosen leaders. 

(4) Period of Israelitish Kingdom The 
Coronation of Saul marks the beginning of 
this period and the Captivity its close. The 
People of Israel are now organized into a 
kingdom. 

(5) Period of the Jewish Province. This 
period begins with the Captivity and closes 
with the Destruction of Jerusalem, A. D. 70. 
From the time of the Captivity, the Jewish 
people are a subject people, having inde- 
pendance only for a short time under the 
Maccabees. Their land is a province of some 



102 BIBLK MASTERY 

world empire, and so the period is given the 
name of Jewish Province. 

(6) The Life of Christ. This embraces a 
period of 33 years, from B. C. 4 to A. D. 28. 

(7) The Apostolic Church. Pentecost was 
the birthday of this Church. The work begun 
by Christ was to be continued by His organ- 
ized disciples. The Acts of the Apostles and 
the Epistles present this history. 

Historical Study of the Old Testament* 

We come now to take up the first great di- 
vision of the Bible, the Old Testament, and 
shall endeavor to obtain a prospective view of 
it. It occupies three -fourths of the whole 
Bible. It is all one great story, mainly about 
the people of Israel. It tells of their rise and 
progress, their fall, and predicts their future. 
Along with this we learn from this great 
sermon in story God's lessons to the race. 
The whole history of Israel in the Old Tes- 
tament might be described as The Rise and 
Fall of Israel, reaching the highest point in 
the time of David and Solomon, and the low- 
est at the time of the Captivity; or this history 
of Israel might be roughly outlined as a pe- 
riod of two thousand years from Abraham to 
Christ. This period might be divided into 
four parts represented by four words: (l) 
Camp, their history as described in the Pen- 



BIBLE HISTORY 103 

tateuch; (2) Common Wealthy presented in 
Joshua, Judges, Ruth; (3) Crown, I, II Sam., 
I, II Kings, I, II Chronicles, and (4) Cap- 
tivity, Ezra, Neb. and Esther. But to get a 
clear view of Old Testament history, we can 
hardly do better than to follow the general 
divisions of periods as above indicated. 

Period I. — The Human Race. 

The Bible is the source of the earliest his- 
tory of the human race. The first eleven 
chapters of Genesis give the original history 
of mankind. Here is told the origin of matter, 
of the world, of life, of man, marriage and 
home, of grace, of sin in the world, of re- 
demption and of civilization. 

This period begins with the creation B. C. 
4004, according to the common chronology, 
and ends with the call of Abraham, B. C. 
1921, covering in round numbers 2,000 years. 
During this long period of more than half of 
the entire time of the Bible no one tribe or 
nation or family is selected; but it would ap- 
pear that God dealt with each person directly 
without mediation or organized institutions. 
We read of neither priest nor ruler, but we 
find God speaking individually with men. 
(Gen. 3:9;4:6;5:22;6: 13.) This period 
may therefore be termed one of Direct Ad- 
ministration. . All of the history of this period 
may be connected with four events: The 



104 * BIBLK MASTERY 

Creation, The Fall, The Deluge and The 
Dispersion. 

I. The Creation involves two topics: (l) 
The creation of the world and its physical 
and animal contents. (2) The creation of 
man. 

The opening sentence of Genesis is one of 
the most weighty in the Bible. "In the begin- 
ning God created the heaven and the earth.' ' 
This sentence denies atheism, for it assumes 
the being of God. It denies polytheism, for it 
confesses the one eternal creator. It denies 
materialism, for it asserts the creation of 
matter. It denies pantheism, for it assumes 
the existence of God before all things and 
apart from them. It denies rationalism, for it 
involves the freedom of the Eternal Being.' ' 
(Dr. Murphy.) 

The Godhead in creation is a clear teaching 
of the Scriptures. ''In the beginning God 
created the heaven and the earth," might be 
translated "In the beginning the Godhead 
created" &c. The word in the original is 
plural. God the Father, God the Son, God 
the Holy Spirit had special spheres in crea- 
tion. Note the following: "There is one 
God, the Father, of whom are all things, and 
we through Him." (I Cor. 8: 6). "By 
whom also He made the worlds." (Heb. 1:2). 
In Him were all things created, in the heav- 



BIBLE HISTORY 105 

ens and upon the earth, things visible and in- 
visible, whether thrones or dominions or 
principalities or powers; all things have been 
created through Hirn, and unto Him ; and He 
is before all things and in Him all things con- 
sist. (Col. 1:16-17) also (Gen. 1:2 and 
Job. 26: 13; 33:4) 

Thus the teaching of Scripture as to crea- 
tion is that God the Father is the ultimate 
source of all ; Christ was the active agent in 
the creation of formation of all and the Holy 
Spirit the source of life of all. This agrees 
with the three great unities in nature, a unity 
of substance, a unity of form and a unity of 
life — here the Bible and science agree. 

7 he extent of the Six Days" Creation should 
have some consideration as a basis for un- 
derstanding the first chapter of Genesis. 
The verse "In the beginning God created the 
heaven and the earth" is generally interpreted 
of the entire universe. It may be applied to 
that but it is hardly so used here. The 
"heaven" here mentioned is so defined in the 
eighth verse, "the firmament," that is our 
earth's heaven or immediate surroundings and 
probably not the universe of fixed stars. The 
following is a statement of a scholar: "The 
expression, 'the heavens and the earth/ was 
among the Hebrews the common designation 
for the world for which the Old Testament has 



106 BIBLE MASTERY 

no single expression. It always means the 
terrestrial globe and its aerial firmament." 
The stars in the fourth day's work in con- 
nection with the sun and moon are the planets 
only. We need not then look further in this 
chapter than the solar system of which our 
earth is part and with which it is so closely 
connected. The boundless universe of fixed 
stars is mentioned in other parts of scripture, 
but not here. 

Undoubtedly, the earth and the entire solar 
system, being parts of the universe, were 
created, so far as their original form and sub- 
sequent formation, at the same time as the 
universe, for all are one in substance and 
general form and in the energies that animate 
them. We must notice that no time is men- 
tioned when the earth was created or the 
length of time for the process, all that is said 
on these points is that it was " in the begin- 
ning," 

What Was the State ot the Earth before 
the six days creation? The revised transla- 
tion which is the true one, reads : "The earth 
was waste and void, and darkness was upon 
the face of the waters." Here is described 
not chaos or the primeval state of an unformed 
earth, but a state of desolation. . The same 
word is used in Jer. 4 :23, when the prophet 



BIBI.E HISTORY 107 

sees in vision the earth after the desolations 
of the last day. 

Again the Bible teaches that the earth was 
covered with water just before the six days' 
work began. It must, therefore, have been 
in a comparatively finished state, with more 
of a desolate than chaotic condition. All that 
intervenes between the original creation of 
the earth and its state as here described is 
passed over in silence. There is, therefore, 
between the first and second verses an inter- 
val in which lies all that geology tells us of. 
It is during this interval, as it seems, that the 
history of the formation and after progress of 
the earth were made up to the beginning of 
the six days' creation. Here is where the 
fossil creatures lived and died. All this is 
passed over in silence by the Bible account. 
The Bible takes up the story after the desola- 
tions which geology tells was the end of that 
time. The world as stated was then left 
"waste and void." ^ It is, therefore, not 
necessary to read into this chapter in question 
the account of the long ages in which were 
formed the earth's crust and its countless 
races of fossil creatures, though many do so. 
Science and the Bible agree that our present 
order of nature is a late and comparatively 
recent one as compared to the geologic ages, 
Geology tells us that there was such a time 



108 BIBI«3 MASTERY 

or age or series of ages of comparative deso- 
lation just before our present races of animals 
and plants, and especially just before man 
came. We are told that there was a great ice 
age, 1,000 feet thick in southern Ohio, 10,000 
feet thick over New England and 12,000 feet 
thick in South America. The darkness was 
intense and the whole lasted 200,000 years. 
Without sunlight and with such a climate the 
earth was well described as " waste and void." 
Whether or not this was the age to which the 
Bible account refers we cannot say, but it 
certainly bears a striking correspondence in 
many respects." 

The Six Days Creation then seems to be 
one of a series of creations, or formations 
in which the earth is especially well pre- 
pared for the use of man. Man, the great 
object of the divine mind was provided for 
through long past ages by filling the cellars 
of the earth with the wealth of coal and oil 
and gas and metals and rocks and other 
necessaries for human comfort and well 
being. Eternity alone will be able to unfold 
the unmeasured favors of Divine forethought 
for man. We have here in these special 
provisions an illustration of God's prevenient 
grace. 

The Six Days' Creation may be best in- 
dicated by grouping in such a way that the 



BIBLK HISTORY 109 

opposite days correspond to each other as 
they do in the following arrangement : 

1. Light. 4. The Sun, Moon and 

Planets. 

2. Waters and At- 5. Water and Air Ani- 

mosphere. mals. 

3. Land and Vege- 6. Land Animals and 

tation. Man. 

We should note that the creative days are 
given in scientific order. First the elements, 
light and air; then vegetation, after that the 
lowest forms of living creatures, and suc- 
ceeding them the higher orders and man last 
of all. Science tells us that the earth was in 
darkness and largely covered with w 7 ater. 
Vegetation preceded animal life and the low- 
est orders came first and man was the last 
that appeared. 

In the Method of Creation we find the idea 
of a succession of creative changes. Whether 
the old species were used in the creation of 
the new species we are not told. The ex- 
pressions, "Let the earth bring forth" J^ * 
"Let the w r aters bring forth," may include 
such a process. God could have created new 
species by extraordinary births of new from 
old ones. Some propose this theory as a solu - 
tion of the difficulty of evolution. This would 
agree with the way the fossil cieatures came 
and went. They seemed to have come sud- 



110 BIBLE MASTERY 

denly in small numbers, to have grown to 
great proportions and passed out as suddenly 
as they came. But regardless of the theory, 
the Bible story is that of a creation and not 
of a long and infinitesimal series of changes 
proposed by the unproven theory of evolu- 
tion. The study of the succeeding days is 
very interesting, 

1. The First Day gave light. Not in the 
sense that this was the first appearance of 
light in the universe or even in the earth. 
The account does not say that. It simply 
speaks of light on the earth. The sun, whose 
relations to the earth are fixed on the Fourth 
Day, must then have been shining, but ex- 
cluded from the earth by the dense vapors so 
evidently present at the time. The First 
Day's work then was simply the admission of 
some light through these vapors. Light must 
necessarily precede the life of vegetation and 
animals. 

2. The Second Day gives the formation of 
the present atmosphere. The lifting of the 
vapors and cleansing of them from the deadly 
gases, formed "the waters which are above 
the earth, " viz: the rain clouds separated 
from the water beneath. 

3. The Third Day's work was the elevation 
of some of the earth's surface above the 
ocean's surface and the sprouting forth of 



BIBLE HISTORY 111 

vegetable life. The plants are named in bo- 
tanical order; "grass, herb and tree.' ' They 
come properly before animals as a necessary 
supply, in some way, of their wants. 

4. The Fourth Day's work is the adjust- 
ment of the sun, moon and plants in their re- 
lationship to earth. The sun had long been 
in use but upon this fourth day the position 
or orbit of the earth underwent changes in re- 
lation to the heavenly bodies in order that 
there might be not only a greater degree of 
light than formerly, but also to produce the 
rotation of seasons and the calculation of 
years, and days and other periods. 

5. The Fifth Day's work was the produc- 
tion of the lowest orders of animal life. The 
nature of each class is not distinctly indi- 
cated, but the classes are named in scientific 
order, 

(l) "L,et the waters bring forth the mov- 
ing creature that hath life," literally let the 
waters swarm with s warmers. The lowest 
orders of water animals are here meant and 
not the fish; they come later. 

(2). "Let fowl fly above the earth." This 
sentence does not refer to the birds, for they 
are mentioned later as "winged fowl." The 
insects that properly come after the lowest 
water animals are embraced here. 



112 BIBLE MASTERY 

(3). "Great sea monsters," meaning the 
reptile orders, are named next. 

(4). "Living creatures that moveth, the 
waters brought forth abundantly," refers to 
the fertility and increase of the fish orders. 

(5). Birds are meant in the "winged fowl." 
These come last and are highest in the egg 
producing class. 

6, The Sixth Day's work gives the mam- 
mals, the highest order of animals, ending 
with man. They are called "living creat- 
ures," "cattle," "creeping things," "beasts 
of the earth" — nearest man. 

The Creation of Man was a special act of the 
Godhead. It was preceded by a special con- 
sultation : "L,et us make man in our image, 
after our likeness." All that is said of this 
creation expressly forbids the idea that man 
had any connection with the brutes whatever 
might have been his origin. 

The creation of woman came last of all. 
The origin of sex is one of the mysteries of 
science, as much so as the Bible account. 
Matthew Henry says : ' Woman was made 
of a rib out of the side of Adam, not out of 
his head to top him, not out of his feet to be 
trampled on by him, but out of his side to be 
equal with him, under his arm to be protected, 
and near his heart to be loved." 



BIBLE HISTORY 113 

A New Creation is prophesied of in the 
Scripture — a creation that shall be better than 
the former one. Isai 65 : 17 ; 66 : 22 ; II Pet. 
3: 13; Rev. 21 : 1. 

The Fall. The account of man's origin, 
state and fall lies at the basis of any general 
mastery of the teachings of the Bible. Our 
first parents are said to have been made in 
the image of God and placed in a beautiful 
garden spot, called Eden. Adam is described 
as perfect but not perfected . He was of capa - 
ble mind, but not of experienced nature. He 
was submitted to probation, but this did not 
necessarily involve temptation. God does 
not tempt man (Jas. 1 : 12 -15) , but He does 
submit him to trial and to proving (Deut. 8 : 
2, 3). The necessity for the presence of evil 
and temptation is not easily explained. The 
origin of evil is the unsolved problem of this 
life. Adam's life in the garden was under 
the most favorable conditions. There could 
hardly have been less suggestion of tempta- 
tion than was presented there. Out of a gar- 
den full of trees only one was prohibited, and 
then the Tree of Life was ever present 
to give full protection against sin. Their 
primitive state must also have been free from 
incitement to evil. It is hardly reasonable to 
suppose that the tempter had then such power 
as since. The Tree of Knowledge stood for sin 



114 BIBLE MASTERY 

and the turning from it stood for repentance. 
TheTree of Life represented Salvation through 
Sacrament— through Christ. It was Adam's 
power of choice between right and wrong that 
made him worthy of God's purposes. It is 
the right use of this choice that makes a saint, 
and a wrong use, a devil. If Adam had kept 
himself from sin he would doubtless have 
been lifted out of the state of probation, into 
a higher, translated state like that of Enoch, 

But Adam's Probation, though under most 
favorable conditions, proved his weakness. 
The Tempter, who was Satan, exhibited re- 
markable shrewdness in his method of ap- 
proach and statements. He does not reveal 
himself directly, but uses a beast of the field, 
that is a wild animal as distinguished from a 
domesticated animal. It could hardly have 
been the ordinary serpent, for it was "more 
subtle than any beast of the field," and the 
serpent is not especially subtle. It must have 
been some creature superior to any animal 
now existing. Its form was not that of a ser- 
pent, but more probably that of a human or 
semi -human form. It was in all probability 
a beautiful creature, It is significant that the 
same word for serpent used by Moses in the 
wilderness means "seraph," burning or shin- 
ing, from which we get seraphim. This may 
refer to the original form of the serpent. The 



BIBLK HISTORY 115 

serpent form was that given as the penalty, 
and hence it could hatdly have been the origi- 
nal form. It was through this creature as an 
agent that Satan made his approach to Adam. 
The Scriptures clearly teach that Satan is the 
animating spirit that began his evil work in 
the garden and has continued it so ruinously 
down through the ages. He, having fallen 
himself from his created state, and led by 
jealousy towards the new being, and by hope 
of conquest, purposed to use him for his own 
advancement and power. 

The Tempiaiio?i was threefold, (l) It was 
spiritual "Hath God said ye shall not eat of 
any tree in the garden?" This suggested a 
doubt of God's goodness. It is here that 
nearly all unbelief begins. Few disbelieve in 
God's existence, but many seem to doubt his 
goodness and kindness. Satan prefers one to 
doubt God's goodness rather than his exis- 
tence. The latter produces indifference, while 
the former creates hatred such as Satan him- 
self has. (2) His second form of temptation 
is an insinuation of God's justice, "Ye shall 
not surely die." We have here the basis of 
present day false religion as seen in the line 
of liberalism or in the doubt of penalty for sin, 
or for any particular danger in the next world. 
(3) "After distrust in God's mercy and disbe- 
1 ief in the warnings as to sin , come the physical 



116 BIBLK MASTERY 

aspects of the temptation. The first two forms 
may be regarded as subjective which produce 
a state of heart that makes the latter possible. 
The last form is objective as illustrated in the 
following : "And when she saw, she took and 
did eat." Threefold temptation: L,ust of 
the flesh, lust of the eye and pride of life. 
(I John 2-16). 

The Sin consisted of positive disobedience. 
The reference to their shame may also point 
to the sin of sensuality. The punishment 
was a judgement pronounced first upon the 
serpent -animal used as the tempter. It was 
remanded to a degraded state without power 
or means of further temptation. There was 
to be enmity henceforth between Satan and 
the woman and his seed and hers. This an- 
tagonism begins with Cain and Abel, then 
between the race of Cain and that of Seth, be- 
tween Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau, 
Israel and the surrounding nations, and be- 
tween the righteous and ungodly of all time. 
The Expulsion of Adam and Eve meant that 
Eden was closed to them forever. They went 
forth in disgrace, in sorrow and in sin to 
make their way without Eden's protection and 
blessings, and worse still without Jehovah's 
presence and fellowship. 

The Consequences of The Fall are far reach- 
ing. To this event the Bible traces all the 
forms of sin and misery known to mankind. 



BIBLR HISTORY 117 

Spiritual contamination, the ills of sorrow, 
sickness and death are the results of the Fall. 
Through one man sin entered into the world 
— and death through sin — and so death passed 
unto all men for that all sinned. (Rom 5:12). 
Death, before the Fall, had sway only over 
the animals, but since then it was extended 
to man also. Medical men tell us that death 
is not a necessit}' if our organs and faculties 
were kept in a perfect state. Man's separa- 
tion from God is attested by his efforts to find 
Him by means of idols, and by seeking to 
know Him through false worship. Mm is still 
falling. Savage nations have been decaying 
nations until lifted by Christianity or its pre- 
cursor, the religion of Israel. 

All the great nations of antiquity have 
fallen, the Egyptian, Assyrian, Grecian and 
Roman. The present unchristian people are 
still falling, as the Chinese and Hindus. The 
hope of "dying nations" as well as "dying 
men" is in the Tree of L,ife only. 

Redemption through God's grace was early 
provided. Grace was on the ground before 
sin. God, Elohim, the godhead, appears in 
the creation chapter, but Gjd, Jehovah, is 
used in the account where man is spoken of, 
or in other words Jehovah is the Old Testa- 
ment name for Christ (John 12 : 41 and Isa. 
6: 1). 



118 BIBLK MASTERY 

It was Christ, then, who called the guilty 
couple and adjudicated their sin. The threat- 
ened penalty was : "In the day thou eatest 
thereof thou shalt surely die/' This death 
meant spiritual death then and physical death 
afterwards. Here came in the saving work of 
Christ. He stretched over that guilty couple 
His redemption, and brought to them the 
means of restored spiritual life. The coats of 
skin taken as a covering indicate the very 
elements of sacrifice, one giving his life for 
another to cover that one's shame and sin, 
In this initiation of sacrifice Christ is pointed 
to as the world's Saviour for that early time 
as well as that period subsequent to the Sac - 
rifice of Calvary. 

The Deluge has its background in the story 
of Adam's family. Shortly after the expulsion 
from Eden, "Adam," we are told "knew his 
wife; and she conceived and bare Cain." 
(Gen. 4 : l). This birth is supposed to have 
occurred in the first year after the apostasy ; 
and the birth of Abel perhaps in the follow- 
ing year. The brothers grew up together ; 
but their occupations were different. "Abel 
was a keeper of sheep ; but Cain was a tiller 
of the ground." The infidel theory that hu- 
man beings were at first savage is contradicted, 
in the fact that savages are not farmers or 
shepherds. * They live from the chase and 



BIBLE HISTORY 119 

from the spontaneous products of the earth. 
The earliest form of living must have been 
simple but not necessarily savage. The 
people were naked save as clothed with skins 
of animals. They had to seek shelter and 
food as best they could. They possibly lived 
first in caves and depended on clubs, on stone 
instruments, on the chase, or wild fruits. 
They were just about what the remains of 
prehistoric man show. The advance, how- 
ever, seems to have been rapid. 

The Bible tells of the beginnings of the use 
of metals, musical instruments, and domestic 
cattle. Cain also goes off and builds a "city." 
This of course was a crude erection. It could 
hardly have been more than a settlement of 
tents or rude huts w T here families were joined 
together by ties of blood, or for agricultural 
or pastoral pursuits were attracted to a favor- 
able locality for mutual assistance and defence 
against neighboring clans. Such an habita- 
tion was usually inclosed by a ditch and stone 
hedge or wall and so became a "fenced city." 
(Deut. 2 : 23), 

Cain and Abel both had a knowledge of the 
true God and were his professed worshipers. 
God had revealed himself to them and had 
evidently instructed them as to the manner of 
his worship. At stated seasons they brought 
ir offerings unto the Lord. We are t id 



120 BIBLK MASTERY 

that "Cain brought the fruit of the ground; 
but Abel the firstlings of his flock." In other 
words Abel brought a bloody sacrifice which 
typified the blood of the cross. Two reasons 
may be assigned why God did not accept the 
offering of Cain : (I) It was not presented in 
faith. (Heb. 11 :4); (II) It was not presented 
in the appointed way . God had instituted the 
bloody sacrifice; but Cain either from pride, 
self-will, or some other cause, refused to offer 
such a sacrifice. Perhaps he had no lamb of 
his own and did not like to procure one of 
his brother Abel- He could not see why an 
offering from the field w r ould not do as well. 
Cain was a rationalist in religion, while Abel 
moved by faith. Abel was murdered proba- 
bly in the 130th year of the world. This is 
inferred from the fact that Seth, who was given 
Abel's place probably soon after his death, 
was born when Adam was 130 years old. 
The Bible presents us the history of two races 
of antedeluvians. The line of Seth is the 
godly one. Enoch and Noah are in that line. 
The line of Cain is the ungodly race. The 
Cainites first lived much by themselves for a 
long time, but finally intermingled with the 
other descendants of Adam and so became 
the means of corrupting them. " When the 
sons of God saw the daughters of men that 
they were fair, they took them wives of all 



BIBI<E HISTORY 121 

that they chose.' ' (Gen. 6:2) These daugh- 
ters of men are supposed to have been Cain- 
ites. At any rate they were as wicked and 
vile as they were beautiful. The "sons of 
God" were Sethites. The results of the union 
were giants in stature and giants in positive 
evil. It was their wickedness that brought 
on the flood. The question is sometimes 
asked: "If Cain and Abel were married, 
whom did they marry?" We have no state- 
ment that Abel was married, though he lived 
long enough to have a numerous posterity, 
and the probability is that he was both mar- 
ried and had many descendants. We know 
that Cain was married and had children. His 
wife must have been a sister, a niece or a near 
relative. Adam and Eve doubtless had sons 
and daughters besides those mentioned in the 
Bible, and in all probability quite a number. 
They were created not infants, but in the ma- 
turity of their powers, and became parents , it 
is thought, within a year of their creation. 
Abel was born, perhaps, the next year. We 
hear nothing more of their children for the 
next hundred years, only that they begat sons 
and daughters. They may have had fifty 
children older than Seth, and so by the time 
of Abel's murder there must have been sev- 
eral generations. Some have supposed the 
number to have been not less than a hundred 



122 BIBI,E MASTERY 

thousand souls when Cain went to the land 
of Nod. 

The apostasy of the old world became such 
in time that wealth, physical strength, the 
cultivation of the arts and military achieve- 
ments were substituted for godliness. The 
arts, or at least some of them, were carried at 
that period to a very high degree of perfec- 
tion; else such a structure as the ark could 
never have been built. Nor did a knowledge 
of the arts perish in the flood. It survived 
and showed itself in the family of Noah. 
Hence we find men, soon after the flood, en- 
gaged in cultivating the earth, in building 
towers and cities, in practicing the arts both 
of war and peace just as their pride and inge- 
nuity prompted. It was high handed, well 
directed wickedness that led to the reign of 
violence, and God in His sovereign wisdom 
brought the whole age to a close in the deluge. 
God's message to Noah to build the ark was 
a call of mercy to that world as well as a favor 
to himself. It meant much to enter upon the 
great endeavor against ridicule, expostula- 
tion, censure and persecution. But faith gave 
him courage and final victory. He was oc- 
cupied in building the ark and preaching 
righteousness over one hundred years. 

The Evidence and Extent of the Deluge. 

There is no fact of ancient history better es- 



BIBLK HISTORY 123 

tablished than the deluge. Besides the Bible 
there are said to be at least sixteen ancient 
accounts of it. There are many and similar 
records or traditions to be found among the 
Chaldeans, the Hindus, the Chinese, the 
Romans, Greeks, Scandinavians, the Indians 
and Mexicans of America. They all have 
the story. An excellent account of the 
Chaldeans was just recently discovered. It 
agrees with the Bible account in twenty -five 
particulars. 

The universality of the deluge, as far as 
man is concerned, is verified by its universal 
traditions. It may, or may not have included 
the entire earth. The direct causes of the 
deluge are not known. There are several 
possible and reasonable causes. The atmos - 
phere containing so much more moisture then 
than now would by precipitation be the open - 
ing of the windows of the heaven referred to. 
This, with the discharge of the volumes of 
water from the surrounding seas, would an- 
swer the scripture statements and produce the 
deluge described. If it accompanied some 
great volcanic upheaval, such as has often 
come to earth, as geology and history alike 
testify, there would be not only a flood cov- 
eaing that region, but extending to all parts 
of the earth, The earth has had many del- 
uges and its surface has been over and over 



224 BIBI.E MASTER V 

covered with water; the presence of sea shells 
on the highest mountains attest that deluges 
have been among the common experiences of 
our globe. 

The dates of the deluge reduced to our time 
are as follows : Noah entered the ark Novem - 
ber 1st. The deluge began November 8th, 
It rained 40 days, that is to December 16th. 
The waters prevailed all winter and began to 
recede in May. The dove was sent out in 
July. The earth dried during July and 
August. Noah left the ark November 1st, a 
year from the time he entered. 

The Origin of the nations as such began 
with the new age, after the flood. Noah was 
heir to the whole earth, and with him God 
began the race again. All are descended 
from him as all are from Adam. So the his- 
tory of the race begins again here. This is 
practically the beginning of all history and 
ethnology; for while much may be learned of 
man before the flood, it will be little at best. 
The ninth, tenth and eleventh chapters of 
Genesis are the original sources of man's 
early history. In the tenth chapter we find 
what is called <4 The Table of the Nations, " 
including seventy nations, more or less, and 
to this all must go for a beginning. 

The First Settlement* The ark rested some - 
where on the high parts of Armenia, called 



BIBLE HISTORY 125 

Mount Ararat; and in the same general vi- 
cinity on the fertile plains between the Tigris 
and the Euphrates was the first settlement of 
mankind after the flood. Just how long Noah 
and his sons dwelt near the place where they 
left the ark is not known. It could not have 
been less than twenty years, for there the 
good man planted a vineyard and drank too 
freely of the wine thereof and exposed him- 
self to the derision of a son and grandson. 
Canaan, a son of Ham, born after the flood, 
was now old enough to be joined with his 
father in the curse, as, in all probability he 
had been in the transgression. 

We hear nothing of Noah after this, except 
that he lived 350 years, almost to the time of 
Abraham. It is thought by some that he did 
not migrate with his sons to the land of Shi- 
nar, but remained in the East, had another 
family, and that China, and perhaps some 
other eastern countries, were settled directly 
by him. This would account for the utter 
silence of Scripture respecting the last 300 
years of Noah's life. It would also account 
for the early settlement of some oriental coun- 
tries. China seems to have been settled as 
early as Egypt ; and yet we have no account 
of its having been so early reached by any of 
the descendants of Shem, Ham or Japheth. 
When it is said that the ' 'whole earth was 



126 BIBI.K MASTERY 

overspread' ' by the three sons of Noah the 
passage may refer only to the historical earthy 
those portions with which Moses was ac- 
quainted. 

The Tower of BabeL About 200 years 
after the flood when the posterity of Shem, 
Ham and Japheth had increased to thou- 
sands, and perhaps millions, and when they 
had long since been settled in the land of 
Shinar the people in order that they might 
get to themselves a name, and prevent the 
possibility of their being scattered, or de- 
stroyed by another flood, resolved to build a 
city, and a tower whose top should reach even 
unto heaven. (Gen. 11: 4). So they set 
themselves, with all their might, to build 
what was afterwards called the Tower of 
Babel. There is no fact better verified than 
this tower. It was used as a place of worship 
to the 3rd century, A. D. An ancient man- 
uscript has been found giving a description 
of it. (Expository Times, August 1900). It 
was composed of six stones; a temple on the 
top formed the seventh. It was ascended by 
365 steps, sixty of these of gold, the rest sil- 
ver. It had been abandoned in its early his- 
tory, and finished by subsequent rulers, Its 
location is supposed to have been on the spot 
around which was afterwards built the great 
city of Babylon. 



BIBLE HISTORY 127 

The Dispersion seems to have been in the 
days of Peleg,the fourth from Shem (10: 22) 
while the Tower was in the course of erec- 
tion. God was displeased w r ith the under- 
taking and took measures to frustrate it. In - 
stead of dwelling together and rallying round 
a great central cit>^ and tower, God designed 
that the human family should be separated — 
scattered abroad over the face of the earth ; 
and in order to accomplish his purpose, and 
defeat their own, he took the wisest measure 
possible and "confounded their language." 
The fact of the unity of human language 
seems well established. Language was man's 
faculty from the first ; not a thing of human 
invention, but the gift of God. He adapted 
the human organs to the use of language, so 
that even from the first Adam and Eve, un- 
doubtedly, conversed together, conversed 
with God and taught their children to talk, as 
we do ours. We do not know what the origi- 
nal tongue was. It was in all probability 
Hebrew. 

When the language of the Babel builders 
had been confounded, so that they could not 
have intercourse one with another they began 
to disperse and to be scattered abroad. In 
the confounding of tongues, it is likely that 
the members of each large family or tribe had 
a tongue by themselves. They could under- 



128 BIBLE MASTERY 

stand one another but could not understand 
those of another tribe. This would separate 
the different families or tribes, while it kept 
the members of each particular tribe together. 
The principal nations are as follows : 

Japheth, the eldest, had seven sons : Go- 
mer is represented by the Germanic races; 
Magog, Tubal, and Meshech, by the Russian 
races; Madai, by the Medes ; Javan by the 
Greeks and Italians; Togarmah, by the Ar- 
menians ; Tarshis, by the Western European 
nations. 

Ham, the youngest of the three, had four 
sons: Cush, Mizraim, Phut, and Canaan. 
Cush first lived east of the Euphrates, near 
its mouth, and his country was watered by 
the ancient Gihon. He afterwards migrated 
into Southern Arabia, and then over the Red 
Sea into Africa. Cush had six sons, viz: 
Seba, Havilah, Sobta, Raamah, Sabtecha, 
and Nimrod. The first five of them settled 
with their father in Arabia and Africa, and 
are called in our Bibles, Ethiopians. They 
Spread themselves over the greater part of 
Africa. Nimrod seems not to have left the 
land of Shinar. He was a hunter, a warrior 
and a leader in the mad project of building 
the tower. He seems to have continued its 
erection after the dispersion. Babel is called 
the beginning of his kingdom. 1 Egypt was 



BIBLE HISTORY 129 

early settled by Mizraim and his seven sons, 
perhaps also by his father, Ham. Egypt is 
called "the land of Ham." (Ps. 105 : 23.) 

The children of Ham seem to have been 
most powerful at first. Nimrod ruled for a 
time Chaldea or the land of Shinar; also in 
Arabia, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Canaan; the 
sons of Ham had powerful kingdoms. 

Shem, the second, had five sons: Elam, 
Asher, Arphaxad, L,ud, and Aram. Elam 
was the father of the Ancient Persians; Ashur 
settled Asyria, and from him the country re- 
ceived its name. Arphaxad seems to have 
remained with his father in the land of Shinar. 
He was the ancestor of Abraham. Arphaxad 
begat Salahand Salah begat Eber from whom 
the Hebrews took their name. Eber had two 
sons, Peleg and Joktan. In the time of Peleg 
the language of men was confounded. Though 
the Hamites were at first most powerful, at 
length the Shemites began to distinguish 
themselves and to prevail. Persia, Assyria, 
Syria, Armenia and portions of India were 
settled by the sons of Shem. At length they 
drove out the posterity of Ham from Arabia 
and Canaan and possessed those countries. 
From this period the Hamites have been con- 
fined chiefly to Africa. 

In later times the children of Japheth 
have surpassed all others in power. Greece, 



130 BIBLE MASTKRY 

Rome, Germany, France, Spain, England — 
nearly all of Europe, Northern Asia, aud a 
large part of India and America have been 
peopled by them. The dispersion shows the 
Japhetic race in Europe, the Shemitic in Asia 
and the Hamitic in Africa. 

The Second Historical Period is that of 
the Chosen Family. This period begins with 
the call of Abram B. C. 1921, and closes with 
the call of Moses, B. C. 1491. Its record ex 
tends from Genesis 12 to Exodus 2. 

The first eleven chapters of Genesis, cov- 
ering a period of at least 2,300 years, is a 
narrative that converges toward the one point 
now reached, the coming of the progenitor of 
the chosen people. The remaining thirty - 
nine chapters of Genesis are occupied with 
a narrative covering a period of about 300 
years. This shows the relation of the events 
and that all up to this is introductory. Jewish 
history begins here. During this period the 
family of Abraham is the only subject of the 
history ; and from its form of government we 
call it the Period of Patriarchal Adrnijiis- 
tration. 

Abraham, 1. Genealogy is important in 
Bible history. Before the flood lives were 
prolonged almost to a thousand years, but 
afterwards there was a rapid decline. While 
Noah lived 950 years, Abraham died at 175. 



BIBLE HISTORY 131 

Noah lived to see nine generations. He lived 
to within a year of Abraham's birth. Shem 
lived until after the birth of Isaac. Eber, 
from whom the whole race took the name of 
Hebrew, lived until after the birth of Jacob, 
the father of the twelve tribes. Abraham 
could have conferred with Shem and learned 
all the facts of the flood from him. Shem 
could have conferred with several contempo- 
raries of Adam. So that Abraham was only- 
distant by two generations from Adam, 
though he himself was in the tenth genera- 
tion from Noah, What Adam told Methuse- 
lah he, in turn, could have communicated to 
Shem, and he again to Abraham. We can 
thus see how the narratives of the Bible may 
have been easily transmitted, first orally and 
then committed to writing. Abraham was 
selected from the line of Shem, the godly; 
and Shem from Noah, the one righteous man; 
and he from the line of Seth, in which comes 
Enoch. The same process continues in his 
descendants. Isaac is taken as against Ish- 
mael; and Jacob, instead of Esau. God's 
call came to Abraham in Ur of the Chaldese. 
Here he was born, and with his father Terah 
and family followed a pastoral life. The 
death of his brother Haran, who was the 
father of Lot, may have helped to loosen the 
ties that bound them to Ur. They must 



132 BIBI<E MASTERY 

have lived in an encampment similar to that 
of an Arabian tribe of today. Abraham's 
life is fully given in the following chapters: 
Ch. 11, Abraham's genealogy. Ch. 12, 
Call, Haran, Shechem, Bethel and Egypt, Age 
75, Ch. 13, Lot, Promise. Ch. 14, Battle, 
Melchizedek. Ch. 15, Covenant. Ch. 16, 
Hagar, Ishmael, Age 86. Ch. 17, Circum- 
cision, Promise, Age 99. Ch. 18, Angels, 
Sodom. Ch. 19, Lot and Sodom. Ch. 20, 
Abimelech and Sarah. Ch. 21, Isaac, Hagar, 
The Wells, Age 100. Ch. 22, Isaac offered. 
Ch. 23, Sarah's death. Ch. 24, Rebecca, 
Age 140. Ch. 25, Keturah, Abraham's death, 
Age 175. 

2. Abraham" s Covenant. It is the covenant 
which God made with Abraham that specially 
distinguished him. It was given in seven 
sections or communications and should be 
carefully studied. 

(1) In Ur (Acts 7 :l-4) he is given a com- 
mand with the promise only of a land that 
God would show him. This separation in- 
volved giving up home and friends and tak - 
ing the pilgrim life. His obedience here pre- 
pared him for the greater provisions of the 
covenant. 

(2) At Haran (Ch. 12:1-3) Terah dies 
and is laid at rest. God now promised a land, 
a blessing, a great name, to be a blessing, 



BIBLE HISTORY 133 

others to be blessed or cursed for his sake, 
and all the families of the earth to be blessed 
in him. Leaving Haran was another step of 
separation from his brothers and his family, 
and from the land of his nativity. 

(3) Shechem (Ch. 12:7) was in the land 
pointed out, "unto thy seed will I give this 
land." Here he builds an altar and the altar 
accompanies him from this on. 

(4) At Bethel (Ch. 13) another tie is 
broken. L,ot separates from Abraham and 
chooses Sodom, showing his unfitness to 
share in the covenant. Here God tells Abra- 
ham that "his seed is to be as the dust of the 
earth/ ' 

(5) At Hebron (Ch. 15) the covenant is 
formally made and ratified. Abraham's seed 
are now promised to be as the stars for multi- 
tude. It is this promise which Abraham be- 
lieved, and his faith in it which was counted 
to him for righteousness. 

(6) At Hebron (Ch. 17-18) the name 
Abram is changed to Abraham, "great father 
of a multitude. " It was to be an "everlast- 
ing covenant" and Canaan to be an "everlast- 
ing possession.' ' Circumcision is given as a 
seal of the covenant. - Ishmael, whom Abra- 
ham thought might be the source of the com- 
ing nation, is set aside, and Isaac promised. 



134 53IBI.K MASTERY 

(7) At Mt. Moriah (Ch. 22) Isaac is 
called for as a sacrifice and is offered. Then 
the wealth of the covenant is given Abraham. 
God adds his oath, "by myself I have 
sworn.' ' Abraram's seed are to be as the 
stars of heaven and as the sands of the sea. 
They are to overcome their enemies and be a 
blessing to the nations of the world. 

3. Abraham was great in being made the 
depository of the covenant, the faith of the 
church, and by the attestation of his faith by 
a life of obedience. Abraham had not only 
a general idea of God and His power and 
goodness, but he apprehended the gospel. 
He gave Isaac to be offered believing that 
God would raise him from the dead, from 
which in a figure he was raised. (Heb. 11:19). 
Isaac is a type of Christ in his submission. 
(John 8: 56). 

Isaac has but small space in the Scripture 
narrative. He has only one chapter ex- 
clusively devoted to him. (Gen. 26: 1-32). 
He has but a single event mentioned in the 
New Testament, his blessing his sons. (Heb. 
11:20). He is the submissive and passive 
character of the Bible. He is mocked by 
Ishmael when a child, is offered unresistingly 
as a sacrifice, his wife is chosen for him; he 
gives up the wells one after another without 
contending, and settles only when let alone. 



BIBLK HISTORY 135 

He is deceived by his sou. He is a type of 
Christ in his humiliation and in his sacrifice. 
He had less capacity or enterprise than either 
Abraham or Jacob, but was distinguished for 
piety and the virtues of domestic and social 
life. Though he undertook no startling event, 
his name will ever remain as an honored one. 
He died at the age of 180. 

Scripture references to events in his life : 
Promised, Ch. 17 :21; Birth, Ch. 21 :2; Offered, 
Ch. 22; Marriage, Ch. 24; Heirship, Ch. 25: 
6-11; Sons's Birth, Ch. 25:21-26; The Wells, 
Ch. 26:1-32; Deceived by Jacob, Blesses 
Sons, Ch. 27. 

Jacob occupies a large place in Scripture- 
His name as Israel occurs more often than 
any other save that of God. It is by this 
name that the chosen people are called* 
Seven great revelations are given him. At 
leaving home (Ch. 28 :10-20). Leaving I,a- 
ban (Ch. 31:3). Two before meeting Esau 
(Ch. 32:3, 24-32). At Shechem (35:1). 
Bethel (35 :9) . On going to Egypt (46 :2) . 

The main points of interest are his obtain- 
ing of the birthright and blessing; his prayer 
at Bethel; his prayer at Peniel; his return to 
Bethel; his dying blessing. The latter is re- 
ferred to in the New Testament as alone 
worthy of mention (Heb. 11 :2l). Thechap- 
ters are from 25-49. Jacob's twelve sons are 



136 BIBLE MA8TKRY 

Leah's sons, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, 
Issachar, Zebulon ; the sons of Bilhah, 
Rachel's maid, Dan, Naphtali; sons of Zil- 
pah, Leah's maid, Gad, Asher; Rachel's sons, 
Joseph and Benjamin. 

Jacob, after living 17 years in Egypt, died 
at the age of 147, and was by Joseph carried 
to Canaan for burial (Gen. 49 :33). 

Joseph, the eleventh son of Jacob, fills an 
important place and is the center of thought 
in one of the most dramatic stories in all the 
Scriptures. This story is true to the Eastern 
life and conditions. The coat of many colors 
was often used for favored children and is so 
used to some extent to this day. The pit 
into which he was cast was a dry cistern, 
such as are abundant in that country. Ara- 
bian caravans pass through that same land 
today and would even now buy such a slave. 
In the Egyptian part of the narrative there 
are over two hundred points of correspond- 
ence with Egyptian conditions. The personal 
story may be best learned by the Chapters 30 
to 50. The discoveries of archaeology in 
Egypt have given light upon his life in that 
land of intense interest. Joseph's life was 
that of an Egyptian prince. It can scarcely 
be too highly colored. Egypt was far in ad- 
vance in civilization. Joseph lived in a pal- 
ace adorned with paintings, surrounded with 



BIBI.E HISTORY 137 

a paradise of palms and tropical plants. 
There were couches trimmed with ebony, 
ivory and gilding; vases of gold, bronze, ivory 
and crystal; perfumes from alabaster cups, 
soft carpets and costly furs. He had many 
attendants and luxuries at his command. He 
was simply loaded with the glitter and glory 
of royalty. With all there are certain notice- 
able facts as to his character. He possessed 
goodness in youth at home, fidelity in places 
of trust (39 :6), resistance in temptation (39 : 
8), wisdom in administering affairs (41:48), 
love for his cruel brethren (45). His godly 
character was the source of his strength (Acts 
7 :9) . He died at the age of 110. 

When Joseph, and afterwards his brethren 
went into Egypt, it was ruled by a friendly 
dynasty, the Hyksos, or Shepherd Kings as 
they were reproachfully called. These Hyk- 
sos Kings had previously conquered the old 
line kings of Egypt and being of the same 
race as Israel they were naturally well dis - 
posed towards Joseph and his brethren. The 
oppression of Israel was caused by the expul- 
sion of this friendly dynasty and the return 
to power of the old line kings- A king came 
to the throne who knew not Joseph, and had 
no sympathy with his people ; and as they 
were rapidly increasing in number, and the 
land likely to be filled with them, the new 



138 BIBI.K MASTRRY 

king thought by oppression he could keep 
them down. He first compelled them to for- 
sake their flocks, and to build treasure cities 
for himself. He set over them hard task- 
masters, to afflict them with burdens. But 
the more they were afflicted the more they 
multiplied. 

After the death of Joseph there was a long 
period of silence. Israel's sojourn in Egypt, 
even under great oppression, was not entirely 
a disadvantage. They learned much of 
Egypt's civilization, the effects of which they 
showed in after life. At leaving, they must 
have been far from the rustic people they 
were at coming. It would have been impos- 
sible for them to be in daily contact with all 
the learning and advancement of Egypt with- 
out lasting benefits in the arts of civilization, 
God prepared the people for leaving Egypt 
by the hardships of oppression. He also 
provided a leader in saving the child Moses 
from death and in the remarkable training 
which providence made possible to him at 
the court of Pharaoh. 

The Third Historical Period, known as 
that of The Israelitish People , opens with the 
call of Moses, B. C. 1491, and closes with the 
coronation of Saul, B. C. 1095. The life of 
Moses is divided into three parts of equal 
length, in Egypt forty years, in Midian forty 



BIBI^E HISTORY 139 

years, in the wilderness forty years. The 
first two were necessary to prepare him for 
his divinely given work in the last third of 
his life. 

His call to deliver Israel came to him while 
attending to his flock near Horeb (Ex. 2 :23 
to 4 : 17). He was then 80 years of age (Acts 
7:30; Ex. 7:7). Moses shrank from the 
hazardous service and made what seemed to 
be plausible excuses. God encouraged him 
by giving assurance of His continual pres- 
ence and help. Moses in company with his 
brother Aaron went first to the Elders of 
Egypt and then into the presence of Pharaoh 
with their message. Pharaoh is an official 
title like Emperor. The Pharaoh who ruled 
when Moses appeared was one of the success- 
ors of Rameses II, perhaps Menephtah I. 
The fact of finding or not finding his mummy 
has little bearing on the matter. He may or 
may not have been drowned in the Red Sea. 
If drowned, the body could still have been 
recovered and embalmed, for we are told that 
many bodies were left on the shore. Pharaoh 
refused to let Israel go and so ten plagues 
were sent (Ex. 7-11). They were : 1. Nile 
turned into blood. 2. Frogs. 3. Lice. 4. 
Flies. 5. Murrain on cattle. 6. Boiis on 
man. 7. Hail and fire. 8. Locusts. 9. 
Darkness. 10. Death of first-born. 



140 BIBLE MASTKRY 

The Passover, a solemn festival, first ob- 
served on the night of the departure from 
Egypt, was ever afterwards kept for seven 
days annually, beginning on the 14th day of 
the first month (answering to a part of our 
March and April). 

The Exodus of Israel is briefly told. They 
were prepared. The strange occurrences of 
the recent past had terrified them and en- 
couraged their hearts. They were to ask (not 
"borrow" ' as in Authorized Version) from 
the Egyptians jewels and money. These were 
their hard earned w T ages unjustly kept from 
them. The gifts were lavishly bestowed. They 
marchedout in order/ 'by their armies , ' ' tribes , 
families and houses. It was not a confused 
mass of flying fugitives but something of an 
orderly caravan. There were 600,000 fighting 
men. This would mean, perhaps, 2,000,000 
in all. In haste, yet with order, they marched 
out, joined at places by the converging com- 
panies from various parts awaiting the move- 
ment. They marched in order, probably in 
great divisions meeting at Rameses or Pithom 
on the edge of the Wildernes. They crossed 
near the northern extremety of the western 
arm of the Red Sea probably a few miles south 
of Suez, Here the sea is narrow, not more 
than two or three miles over, and could easily 
have been crossed in a single night. The 



BIBLE HISTORY 141 

pride and unbelief of Pharoah hardened his 
heart to the last point, and he with his 
Egyptian host pursued the Israelites into the 
sea and were drowned. After crossing the 
Red Sea, Moses and his people began the 
forty years journey which forms the subject 
of the books of the Pentateuch after Genesis. 
The relations of each book to the journey 
should be noted. Genesis takes them to 
Egypt; Exodus, from Egypt to Mt. Sinai; 
Leviticus was all given at Mt. Sinai ; Num- 
bers takes them from Mt. Sinai to Canaan ; 
Deuteronomy was all given at the edge of 
Canaan. The journey from Egypt to Canaan 
divides itself into five stages. 

1. From Egypt to Mt. Sinai. (Exodus 12 
to 18) . It was a round about way to Canaan 
but was evidently chosen for good reasons. 
It hid the nation from the Egyptian and other 
enemies. The experience of the bitter waters 
at Marah, the Pillar of Cloud, the giving of 
manna and quails, the contest with Amelek, 
and the visit and advice of Jethro were all 
lessons of faith in Jehovah. The time was 
about three months, 

2. At Mt, Sinai (Ex. 19 to end ; Lev. and 
Num. 1 to 10.) This was in the general lo- 
cality where Moses spent the forty years, when 
banished from Egypt. It was also called Mt. 
Horeb. Here God called him out of the burn- 



142 BIBI<E MASTERY 

ing bush (Ex. 3). Here the law was given, 
the Tabernacle erected, a Theocratic form of 
government established, Aaron consecrated 
to the priesthood, Nadab and Abihu put to 
death for offering strange fire before the Lord 
(Lev. 8-10). The second Passover was here 
observed and here the first numbering of the 
people (Num. 2 : 26) occurred. 

3, From Sinai to Canaan (Num. 1 to 19). 
The numbering of the people and the order- 
ing of the camp was at Sinai just before they 
left for the journey. The arrangement of the 
camp was in four divisions, one on each side 
of the Tabernacle, which was therefore in the 
center of the camp. Each of the four divisions 
was lead by one of the four strong tribes. 
The Pillar of Cloud was spread over the camp 
like a canopy, a central stem resting on the 
Tabernacle. It shielded them from the burn - 
ing sun by day and illuminated the camp at 
night. The march to Canaan is characterized 
by sin and rebellion and chastisement. Moses 
becomes so wearied that he is given the sev- 
enty elders to aid him. Miriam and Aaron 
rebel against Moses. At Kadish the whole 
nation show their unbelief in the good report 
of the spies and turn against Moses. God 
shuts them out of Canaan and turns them 
back into the Wilderness to wander the rest 
of forty years. Korah, Dathan and Abiram 



BIBLE HISTORY 143 

rebel and are destroyed. The blossoming of 
Aaron's rod stops the murmuring. Some 
laws are given as the need required. 

For Thirty -eight Years after their meeting 
at Kadesh Barnea but little is recorded of 
them. Only the stages of the journey are 
given (Num. 3). They are under the judge- 
ment of God. It is a time of apostasy. They 
worship heathen gods (Amos 5 : 25, 26; Acts 
7 : 42 43) . Pestilences and other calamaties 
visit them (Num. 10 : 30, 33 ; 32 : 13 ; Ps. 87 : 
33). It was probably during this time that 
Moses wrote Psalm 90, and possibly also 
Psalm 91 . With the expulsion of the Hyksos 
Kings, Pharaoh extended his empire east as 
far as the Euphrates, but after the destruction 
at the Red Sea the power of Egypt relaxed 
and there was invasion from the east and 
there were wars. In the Wilderness the Is- 
raelites were safe from foreign foes. 

The Fortieth Year (Num. 20 to end and 
Deuteronomy) is one of many events. There 
is still sin and rebellion but also much of 
blessing. Miriam and Aaran both die ; the 
fiery serpents are sent among the people ; 
Balaam prophesies in vain against the nation, 
but they fall into sin with Moab and many 
are destroyed. The second numbering now 
takes place, showing that all over twenty 
have fallen as foretold. Joshua is chosen 



144 BIBLK MASTERY 

and consecrated. Moses had conducted an 
all powerful war with the Midiamtes and with 
Og and Sihon, and their land is given to 
Reuben, Manasseh and Gad. It is interesting 
to study this brief warfare under Moses. The 
allotment of the land and the cities of refuge 
are provided for. Moses writes the law, gives 
his farewell discourses in Deuteronomy, gives 
his song, blesses the tribes and dies on 
Pisgah. The nation is encamped in the 
plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho. This 
closes the story of Israel in the Wilderness, 
but before entering Canaan let us note a few 
facts in review. Abraham was promised that 
he was to be a blessing to all the families of 
the earth. The plagues of Egypt and Israel's 
deliverance made Jehovah's name known to 
all the earth (Ex. 9 : 16). While the whole 
world was more and more falling into Apos- 
tasy the Israelites had been in a measure 
purged from the contamination of Egypt and 
were comparatively a pure race. From the 
single progenitor they have increased to a 
nation of millions. Their vicissitudes have 
been strange and many, but God has never 
forsaken them. They now stand at the door 
of Canaan. Moses is dead and Joshua is to 
be the new leader. 

The Law, that body of legislation con- 
tained in the Pentateuch, may here be con- 



BIBLK HISTORY 145 

sidered with profit before we leave Moses, 
There are hundeds of commands but these 
form one body of law. These were given as 
needed. It was not all given or arranged as 
we have it now. The most necessary were 
given first. The decalogue with other neces- 
sary laws were given as soon as Sinai was 
reached. After the erection of the Taber- 
nacle the laws of Iyeviticus were given, these 
forming the ceremonial law which could not 
have been observed previous to this time. 
Before starting on the march from Sinai the 
law of the camp and march was given (Num. 
1 -9) . On the way much of the rest of Num- 
bers was given, and just before the death of 
Moses, all of Deuteronomy. 

The germ and center of the whole law was 
the decalogue, the ten commandments on the 
two tables of stone. These were called the 
Testamony, and these gave the name to the 
ark which contained them. It was the ark 
of the Testamony. For the same reason it 
was the "Tabernacle of Testamony. " It 
was over these tables of stone that the cheru- 
bim hovered in reverence, and above them 
rested the brightness which doubtless filled 
the Holy of Holies. It was on the mercy 
seat covering the law that the blood of expia- 
tion was sprinkled, the demands of this law 
making such atonement necessary. The 



M6 BIBLE MASTERY 

pillar of cloud rested on the Tabernacle as a 
place of divine approval. The Ten Com- 
mandments then represent the center of all 
that complicated system. To understand 
these and the relation of all other laws to 
them is to obtain the key to all. 

The Form of the Decalogue is interesting. 
The usual arrangement of the Ten Command- 
ments is to place them into two groups, four 
in the first and six in the second; but there 
are good reasons for putting three in the first 
and seven in the second. It makes a more 
equal division of the matter and places the 
fourth commandment among those regarding 
human duties, Christ teaches that the Sab- 
bath was made for man. The arrangement 
in groups of three for the Divine side of the 
law and seven for the human side makes 
manifest the numbers of perfection, respect- 
ively of deity and humanity. Three, the 
well known number of the Trinity, is also 
adapted to the manifestations in the first three 
commandments : The Father is the subject of 
the First Commandment; Christ is involved 
in the Second, since He is the only image of 
God we are permitted to see or know; while 
the Third Commandment looks to the pro- 
faning of the Holy Spirit, for which there is 
no forgiveness. 



BIBLE HISTORY 147 

The Ten Commandments were not the 
origin of law. The disobedience in the gar- 
den violated every commandment : The First 
by acknowledging another God; the Second 
by another way of approach to God than that 
ordered; the Third by profaning the name of 
God upon them as well as by their use of His 
name in the temptation; the Fourth Com- 
mandment had been violated by breaking the 
Sabbath of rest which God had entered upon 
and in which they lived; the Fifth by dis- 
honoring their Heavenly Father; the Sixth 
by bringing death upon themselves and others; 
the Seventh by involving sexual sin ; the 
Eighth by taking what was not theirs ; the 
Ninth by bearing false witness against God ; 
the Tenth by coveting. In the skins with 
which the first pair were clothed we see the 
germs of ceremonial law, for that covering 
meant the very essence of sacrifice, benefit 
by the death of another. The law of clean 
animals, of the Sabbath, of marriage and 
against murder must have been known kefore 
the flood, The curse of Ham shows the duty 
of parental honor. The sanctity of property 
would come with its possession, so that the 
germs of all the laws of the Decalogue seemed 
to have been in the world before the time of 
Moses. It is evident that right was always 
right and wrong always wrong. 



148 BIBLE MASTERY 

The Scope of the law embraces the spiritual, 
the ethical, the ceremonial and the civil' 
These systems all center in the Ten Com- 
mandments. Every law found in the Penta- 
teuch is an extension of one of these com- 
mandments. Duties to God are included in 
the first three commandments and duties to 
man in the last seven. 

The Co7iquest of Canaan and possession of 
the promised land constituted a long cherished 
hope of the people. After forty years of wan- 
dering and schooling in the desert they are 
ready to settle down in permanent homes. 
Before this could be made possible it was 
necessary to cross the Jordan and subdue the 
ny. Moses is now dead and the people 
must go forward under a new leader. 

Joshua, the successor of Moses, though but 
littie spoken of in the Bible, is nevertheless 
an important character. He was the son of 
Nun, of the tribe of Ephraini. He was born 
in Egypt, a child of the Bondage, about B. C, 
1536. He shared in the hurried triumphs of 
the Exodus, was chosen captain at Rephidim 
(Ex. 17:9), was w T ith Moses in the mount 
(Ex. 24: 13; 32 : 11, 17), was one of the two 
spies who brought back a favorable report — 
Caleb being the other (Num. 14 : 6-9) and just 
before the death of Moses was chosen by 



BIBLE HISTORY 149 

Himself to be the leader for the people. 
(Num. 27 : 15-23). 

Joshua on assuming leadership made im- 
mediate preparation for the conquest of 
Canaan. The people were led to the eastern 
bank of the Jordan from whence he sent two 
spies to Jericho. These spies accomplished 
their errand but would have been captured 
except for the protection given by Rahab, the 
harlot, who hid them in her house and at 
night let them down from her window by a 
rope, for her house was upon the town wall. 
In return* for this favor the spies promised 
that if she would hang a scarlet line from her 
window she should be saved when they took 
the city. (Josh. 2.) 

The Crossing of Jordan came soon after the 
return of the spies. Joshua and all the 
Israelites approached the Jordan in perfect 
order. The ark was born by the priests 2000 
cubits (1216 yards) in advance. When the 
feet of these priests, the ark bearers, touched 
the water the Jordan rose up on a heap so 
that the Israelites passed over on dry ground. 
The priests remained with the ark in the cen- 
ter of the river until all had passed over ; then 
twelve men, one from every tribe, took each 
a stone from the place where the priests stood, 
the priests then passed over and the waters 
immediately flowed on as before. 



150 BIBI.K MASTERY 

Encampment at Gilgal. Here the twelve 
stones taken from the Jordan were placed as 
a memorial of the miracle. Here Joshua was 
ordered to circumcise all the Israelites. This 
rite had been neglected during the whole 
forty years wandering. The passover, first 
instituted on the eve of leaving Egypt and 
once afterwards observed at Sinai is now after 
about forty years, again kept. It was here 
also that the manna ceased to fall. It was 
about this time that an angel appeared to 
Joshua and announced himself as the captain 
of the host of the Lord, using the same words 
as were formerly heard by Moses. (Josh 5). 

Joshua's campaigns maybe termed Central, 
Southern and Northern. The plan for enter- 
ing the very heart of Palestine and capturing 
the stronghold and so cutting in to the 
enemy at the center was a strategic move. 

The Central. First, Jericho was taken and 
destroyed by strictly obeying God's com- 
mands. Rahab and her household were saved 
and the curse on the city's rebuilder is pro- 
nounced. Ai t on account of Achan's sin, 
was not at first taken, but a second attempt 
was successful and the city was destroyed. 
The first altar was set up by Joshua in 
Mount Ebal. Sacrifices were offered thereon 
and the law read to all. 



BIBLE HISTORY 151 

The Southern Campaign brings Joshua in 
alliance with the Gibeonites who deceived 
him as to their country and secured by false 
statements his pledge to let them live" 
without asking counsel " at the mouth of the 
Lord." The battle with the five ki?igs came 
about from their making war upon Gibeon, 
whose people appealed for help from Joshua. 
The allies of the kings were utterly defeated 
and the five kings were slain by order of 
Joshua. It was in this battle that the mir- 
acle of sun and moon was in evidence. 

The Northern Kings were now aroused at 
the success of these invaders and Jabin, King 
of Hazor organized a powerful league among 
the surrounding princes and assembled an 
immense host by the waters of Merom. But 
Joshua, by rapid marches, fell upon the com- 
bined forces by surprise and routed them with 
great slaughter, and burned their chariots 
and hamstrung their horses. 

Thus Israel became the predominant power 
in all Palestine. For seven years Joshua was 
engaged in subduing thirty -one kings be- 
longing to seven nations. (Josh 12 : 9-24). 
A desultory war had still to be carried on, 
but the country was soon divided and each 
tribe was left to expel its own enemies. 
Shi/oh : Ecclesiastical Capital . About this 
time the Tabernacle was removed from Giigal 



152 BIBI.K MASTKRY 

to Shiloh where it remained 350 years, till 
taken by the Philistines in the time of Eli. 
(I Sam. 4: 10, 11.) 

The Eastern Altar. The people who went 
up from year to year, to attend the feast of 
the Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles be- 
came suspicious of what seemed to be a pos- 
sible rival altar for worship as discovered in 
the erection of a great altar on the Eastern 
bank of the Jordan. An embassy was sent 
to get the facts. The suspicion was not well 
founded and harmony was restored. 

The divisions of the land were : On the 
East of Jordan, (l) Manasseh, (half tribe) on 
the North, (2) Gad, South of Manasseh, (3) 
Reuben, South of Gad. On the West of Jor- 
dan were : (l) Judah, West of the Dead Sea, 
(2) Simeon, Southwest of Judah, (3) Dan, 
North of Simeon, (4) Benjamin, North of 
Judah, (5) Ephraim, North of Benjamin, (6) 
Manasseh, (half) North of Ephraim, (7) Issa- 
char, North of Manasseh, (8) Zebulum, North 
of Issachar, (9) Naphtali North of Zebulum, 
(10) Asher, North of Zebulum. 

Joshua' s parting words recall God's bless- 
ings, exhort Israel to cleave unto God, and 
warn against transgression. He died at the 
age of 110 years. 

Israel constituted a Federative Republic from 
the death of Joshua to the coronation of Saul 



BIBLE HISTORY 153 

(1426-1095 B. C). During a period of about 
twenty -five years previous to the Judges, the 
separate tribes sought to conquer their ene- 
mies, the Canaanites, with but partial success. 
The special points to be noted during that 
time are the introduction of idolatry, the 
idolatry of Micah, the war with Benjamin and 
the obtaining of wives by force on the part of 
the Benjaminites. 

The Judges are not to be confounded with 
those appointed by Moses in the Wilderness, 
who still resided among the people, and 
brought the administration of justice to every 
man's door. The Judges now to be consid- 
ered were the successors, not of these legal 
justices, but rather of Moses and Joshua. 
They were the heroes in the dark hours of 
their country's history to deliver their people 
from their enemies and to restore them to the 
service of Jehovah. These Judges differed 
from the magistrates in being great warriors 
and religious reformers, and from Moses and 
Joshua in being emergency, rather than 
national leaders. Under them there was 
no national, visible head, no central gov- 
ernment, but a loose confederation. On the 
divine side the government was a pure 
theocracy while on the manward side it was 
a pure democracy; that is it was a Theocratic 
Democracy . 



154 BIBLE MASTERY 

The lack of central authority on the char- 
acter of the people was both good and bad — 
mostly bad. The evil effects showed them- 
selves in two ways: (l) Tribal Jealousy 
(Judges 8: 1-3; 12 : 1-6). (2) Neglect of the 
Law of Moses (Judg. 3 : 4). The good effect 
of democracy was that it developed character 
and individuality as free institutions always 
do. It was an age of heroes and yet a period 
of national apostasy and moral degeneracy. 
Idolatry ard conformity to the age wrought 
ruin. Faith and faithfulness gave way to un- 
belief and fickleness. The Tabernacle was 
hid in darkness and there is but little mention 
of the High Priest (Judg. 2: 1-13; 20: 28) 
though the Tabernacle service must have been 
kept up with some measure. It was the 
dark age of Hebrew history when the nation 
was scourged for various sins and idol wor- 
ship. Jehovah, however, was true to his 
promise and never forsook them. He raised 
up at needful times emergency men to deliver 
and help them. These deliverers were called 
judges. There were fifteen judges. (See list 
on page ). The seven oppressions specially 
mentioned are: the Mesopotamian (Ch. 3: 
7-11); the Moabite (Ch. 3: 12-20); the 
Canaanite (Ch. 4); the Midianite (Ch. 6: 
1-6); the Ammonite (Ch. 10: 7-9); the Phil- 
istine, earlier and later (Ch. 3: 31; 13); and 



BIBLE HISTORY 155 

the corresponding deliverances under Othniel, 
Sharngar, Ehud, Deborah, Gideon, Jephtha, 
Samson and Samuel. 

The Book of Ruth "gives a charming do- 
mestic incident in the midst of the dark ages 
of the Judges." The prominent men of the 
period are : 

Moses, the founder of the nation (Detft. 34: 
10-12). 

Joshua, the conqueror of Canaan (Josh. 11: 
20). 

Gideon, the greatest of the judges (Judg. 8: 
28). 

Samtiel, the last of the judges (I Sam. 12 : 
1-2). 

The period covered by Joshua and the 
Judges is characterized as the Iron Age of 
Israel even as that of David and Solomon is 
called its Golden Age. 

The Fourth Historical Period, known as 
The Israelite Kingdom opens with the reign 
of Saul, the first king and closes with the 
captivity of Zedekiah. the last king of Judah 
— time about 500 yeais. The kingdom was 
divided after the reign of three kings, but even 
after the division it w r as regarded as one king- 
dom, though in two parts. We find constant 
allusions to Israel as a people of twelve 
tribes, even as late as the New Testament 
period (Jas. 1:1), These tribes were all 



156 BIBI^E MASTERY 

united under one monarch during the reigns 
of Saul, David and Solomon, each of whom 
reigned forty years, in all 120 years. 

The Demand for a King arose from the fact 
that the Israelites became tired of the govern- 
ment of the judges, and wished to be like the 
other nations about them, and to have a king 
of their own. Egypt, Assyria and other 
centers of royalty, even less distinguished, 
excited their emulation. They may also have 
thought that the increasing tribal jealousies 
would be healed by having a king. The de- 
mand was a sore trial to Samuel, as it seemed 
to involve both ingratitude to himself, and 
also disrespect to, and want of confidence in 
their heavenly King. By God's direction, 
however, the request was not refused. The 
people were told that the new arrangement 
would mean many sacrifices and hardships. 
Saul, the son of Kish, a Benjaminite was dis- 
covered by lot to be the man on whose head 
God wished the crown to be placed. Samuel, 
by Divine direction, had already at Ramah 
privately designated him for the office. 

The Forms of Administration had been : 
(l) Direct when God dealt with each 
person without mediation or organized insti- 
tutions ; when He spoke through neither 
priest nor ruler but directly to the individual. 
(Gen. 3: 9;4:6;5:22; 6: 13). 



BIBLE HISTORY 157 

(2) The second form was Patriarchal when 
each family or clan through its head was 
recognized. (Gen. 17 : 7 ; 18 : 19 ; 35 : 2). 

(3) The third form was Theocratic, or a 
government directly by God. The Lord was 
their only king (Judges 8 : 23) , but there was 
a priestly order for religious service (Exod. 
28 : 1 ) , and from time to time men were raised 
up by a divine appointment to rule who were 
called judges (Judg. 2 : 16), 

(4) The fourth form of administration — the 
one now to be considered was Regal in the 
sense that the people were ruled by kings. 
The King of Israel however was not a despot, 
for his power was limited, and he was re- 
garded as the executive of a theocratic gov- 
ernment. (I Sam, 10: 25). 

Saul, the first king of the united kingdom, 
was a young man of kingly figure and ap- 
pearance. He was brave, energetic, and at 
first modest and rightly impressible. But 
failing to be guided by the exalted principles 
enunciated by Samuel he soon found himself 
swayed by his own wishes and passions 
rather than from the desire to improve his 
kingdom. He had the name of king but was 
in reality little more than a military chieftain. 
He was fortunate in being of the small tribe 
of Benjamin. , The two large tribes of Judah 
and Ephraim were beginning to be rivals and 



158 BIBLK MASTKRY 

a king chosen at the time from either of these 
would have incited bitter opposition. Saul 
selected as his capital and residence the town 
of Gibeah in Benjamin. It was situated on a 
high, isolated hill about six miles north of 
Jerusalem. It commanded an extensive view 
in all directions, especially eastward. 

Samuel seems to have continued to exercise 
at Ramah the functions as judg ■ after Saul 
became king. (I Sam. 7 : 15). He was how- 
ever chiefly occupied in settling quarrels, pro- 
moting Godliness and training the young, 
chiefly Levites, in his "schools of the 
prophets/' These institutions were estab- 
lished in different places as Ramah, Bethel 
and Gilgal. They had someone set over them 
to be their teacher and leader. Here young 
men studied the law of Moses, and learned to 
expound it. Here was taught also sacred 
psalmody and music. Here it was by some 
peculiar devotional exercise that the spirit of 
prophecy was imparted whenever it pleased 
God to grant it. Perhaps to no individual, 
after Moses and Joshua, were the Israelites 
so much indebted as they were to Samuel. 
He was a prophet in Israel eighty years, and 
a judge about sixty years. He anointed as 
king both Saul and David. He directed the 
affairs of the people, instructed them in the 
ways of the L,ord, and administered justice 



BIBLE HISTORY 159 

with an even hand. He is supposed to have 
revised and edited the bobks of Moses and 
Joshua, and to have written Judges, Ruth 
and Samuel up to near the time of his death. 
He died at Ramah, at the age of 92 years. 

Saul's Great Campaig?i consisted mainly of 
seven military achievements: 

1. Against the Ammonites at Jabish-Gil- 
ead; 2. Against the Philistines at Michmash; 
3. Various campaigns against Moab, Edom, 
Zobah, and other places; 4. Against the 
Amalekites; 5. Against the Philistines, under 
the championship of Goliath; 6. Against 
David; 7. The last campaign against the 
Philistines, when he fell on Mount Gilboa, 
near the plain of Ksdraelon. 

SauPs reign is believed to have lasted 40 
years. His miserable death was but a sad 
commentary upon his life. The laws of God 
and the rights of man were entirely disre- 
garded^in the excitement of his impulsive, 
self-will. 

David, the second king, was in many re- 
spects the most remarkable of the great and 
good men of the Old Testament times. Like 
Abraham and Moses he marks a new era in 
the history of Israel, and his life record as 
given in the Scriptures is very full, singularly 
varied and intensely interesting. 



160 BIBIvB MASTKRY 

His Tribe of Judah was the leading one of 
the twelve. It had remarkable traditions. 
(Gen. 44 : 18 -34 ; Num. 13, 14 and Judges 1 : 
12-13). 

His Family held a place of special impor- 
tance in his tribe (I Chron. 2: 10), Jesse, 
David's father was grandson of Boaz and 
Ruth, and probably inherited their property, 
or part of it. His name is given us pro- 
phetically in Holy Writ — " There shall come 
forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a 
branch shall grow out of his roots.' ' He 
was evidently a good man and well advanced 
in years when his son became famous (I Sam. 
17: 12). He lived, however, for sometime 
afterwards (I Sam. 22 : 3). 

His Birth-place was Bethlehem, situated 
six miles south of Jerusalem and about twelve 
north of Hebron. Surely the birth-place of 
both David and Jesus must be regarded as 
sacred. 

His Training. David was bornB. C. 1080, 
about 100 years later than the Trojan War, 
and but 40 years afler the death of Sampson, 
one of the latest of the Jewish heroes. The 
memory of the stirring events of the times 
would still be fresh in the minds of the people 
and so, be before David. :. The profligacy of 
morals under EH had been succeeded by the 
revival under Samuel whose headquarters were 



BIBI,E HISTORY 161 

at Ramah, only a few miles from Bethlehem, 
and whose holy character and teaching seemed 
to have influenced the whole neighborhood. 
From the first public notice of David he was 
influenced by the fear and the love of God. 
His quiet shepherd life helped him to foster 
the habit of meditation, and his absence from 
other companions led him to find companion- 
ship in his harp, on which he early became 
skilled. One of his earliest exploits was to 
slay a lion and bear that came upon his flock. 

His Appearance was comely, with ruddy 
complexion and beautiful eyes (I Sam. 16: 
12, Marg). Many things indicate that there 
was about him a simplicity and openness and 
warmth of nature that won all hearts (I Sam. 
18: 1, 7, 20; II Sam, 19: 14). 

His Character . In his more mature char- 
acter he seemed to unite in himself the high 
qualities of nearly all who had gone before 
him. In him was discovered the heavenly 
conversation of Enoch, the triumphant faith 
of Abraham, the meditative thoughtfulness of 
Isaac, the wrestling boldness of Jacob, the 
patient endurance of Joseph, the lofty pat- 
riotism of Moses, the warlike skill and energy 
of Joshua,' the daring courage of Gideon and 
the holy fervor of Samuel.'. He was a great 
king, a great warrior, a great poet, a great 
religious reformer and among the most etni- 



BTBI.K MASTERY 

: the OKI Testament types of Christ. 
(Math. 15: 22; 20: 30). 

His Life Activities may be divided into 
five parts, each representing a distinct epoch. 

First Epoch — -His Shepherd life. David's 
fidelity to duty as a shepherd was seen in the 
incident of the lion and the bear. It was 
soon after this and while he wore the shep- 
herd's dress and possibly with the shepherd's 
staff -in hand that he was anointed by Samuel 
as king. David as a good shepherd cared 
for his flock, and as a king, sought the good 
of his people (Psalm 78: 70-72)— He was 
three times anointed : first at Bethlehem pri- 
vately (I Sam. 16: 1-14); then at Hebron 
over Judah (II Sam. 2 : 4); and finally over 
all Israel (II Sam. 5: 1-5). 

David as a harper became famous and was 
made minstrel, and then armour-bearer to 
King Saul. (I Sam. 16: 21, 23). The office 
of armour-bearer was honorary, involving 
only personal attendance on Saul when re- 
quired. 

David's conflict with Goliath was the first 
and most memorable of his fights. This oc- 
curred some time after he had returned home 
from serving as Saul's minstrel, and possibly 
when he had undergone a change of appear- 
ance—passing from a boy to a young man — 
so that Saul did not recognize him as his 



BIBLE HISTORY 163 

former armour-bearer. With reference to the 
noted conflict in which David so easily out- 
matched the giant, eight definite facts may be 
noted: 1 , His obedience to his father's wishes, 
though he was sent to the army merely to 
serve his elder brothers. 2. His self control 
and meekness. 3. His view of Goliath's of- 
fence against God in defying his army. 4. 
His courage and faith that made him willing 
to undertake w T hat would seem to be a rash 
step to death. 5. His modest and simple 
faith as indicated in his offer. 6. The de- 
cision with which he put aside the untried 
and unsuitable armour of the king. 7. His 
majestic assertion before the Philistine of the 
claims and prerogatives of the God of Israel. 
8. His perfect coolness and the absolute suc- 
cess of his method of attack. He was doubt- 
less skilled in the use of the sling. As re- 
ward for David's achievement over Goliath 
he was entitled to be the king's son-in-law 
(I Sam. 17: 25). 

The trials through which God permitted 
him to pass were for him schools of discipline. 
As a shepherd he learned to give faithful 
service and to be devout in contemplation. 
His courtier life familiarized him with the 
routine of courts and the habits of royalty; 
and then his life in the desert in actual con- 
tact with the kind of material which he must 



164 BIBI<3 MASTERY 

govern in the future gave him special fitness. 
Some think that the Twenty -third Psalm was 
written during the epoch of his shepherd life, 
but the reference to his enemies and to his 
death seem to point to a later time. 

Second Epoch — His Courtier Life. David's 
encounter with Goliath, the songs of the 
daughters of Israel ascribing more honor to 
David than to Saul aroused Saul's jealousy 
and caused at least five attempts to kill David 
while connected with the court. 1. Saul 
spoke to Jonathan, his son, and to all his 
servants that they should kill David (1 Sam. 
19:1). 2. In his house he launched a javelin 
at his head (19:10). 3. He sent to David's 
house to have him brought up on his sick 
bed (19:15)- 4. He sent messengers to Ra- 
mah for him, but when there they were filled 
with the Spirit (19:20), 5. He went to Ra- 
mah himself and for the time had a similar 
experience (19:23, 24). He also stormed 
against his son Jonathan for his attachment 
to David (20:33). Jonathan's friendship for 
David was not only of the warmest kind, but 
it was most disinterested and pure. He did 
all in his power to soften the jealousy of Saul, 
but it was unavailing. 

Third Epoch— David's Outlaw Life may 
be noted in connection with ten places. 
(Read I Sam, 21-31). 1. At Nob, a city of 



BIBI.H HISTl 165 

priests, between Gibeah and Jerusalem, and 
occupied by the high priest and the tabernacle 
after the destruction of Shiloh. 2. From 
Nob he fled to Gath, one of the cities of the 
Philistines and the old residence of Goliath. 
3. Leaving Gath he returns to the tribe of 
Judah and takes refuge in the cave of Adul - 
lam, at Mizpah. 4. He is next found in the 
Wilderness of Judah. 5. Then in the Wil- 
derness of Ziph he takes refuge. 6. At Maon 
he probably wrote the 54th Psalm. 7. At 
Engedi David spares Saul. S. David's next 
trouble came at Cartnel, in the south ot Judah, 
where David and his men protected Nabal, a 
rich farmer, who showed insolence instead of 
gratitude. David's plan for visiting signal 
chastisement upon Nabal w 7 as arrested by a 
visit from Abigail, with an ample subsidy. 
Nabal died soon after this and David married 
Abigail. 9. At Hachilah Saul's life is spared 
a second time. 10. David becomes discour- 
aged and goes back among the Philistines 
and feigns loyalty to the King. Ziklag, a 
border city, is assigned him and his troops. 
The Philistines having planned a new war, 
David was called to help the king, While 
aw r ay from home Ziklag had been plundered 
and burned and his wives taken away.© The 
calamity brought David back to the spirit of 
trust and prayer. The 56th Psalm seems to 



166 BIBLE MASTERY 

refer to this time, At the death of Saul and 
Jonathan the outlaw life of David came to an 
end. He showed his regard for Saul as the 
Lord's anointed, and for Jonathan, his friend. 
Fourth Epoch— David's Royal Life asking 
of Judah is most interesting. At the age of 
thirty he was made King of Judah , and by 
divine direction Hebron was chosen as the 
seat of his government. He reigned there 
for seven years and a half. Hebron was well 
adapted to be the capital of the southern part 
of the kingdom. Its upland secured it from 
attack, and its holy associations with noble 
spirits would awaken lofty aspirations. 

His first act on coming into power was to 
send a message of thanks to the men of Ja- 
besh-gilead for having buried Saul and his 
sons after the fatal battle of Mount Gilboa. 
His attitude towards the house of his prede- 
cessor was generous — just the opposite to the 
usual policy of Eastern kings, who showed 
all possible disrespect. 

The Civil War that followed was due to 
the fact that Saul's family did not give up 
the throne without a struggle. ' Ish-bosheth, 
a son of Saul, had been under Abner, captain 
of the host, proclaimed king and the North- 
ern and Eastern tribes had accepted him as 
such. At the end of the civil war a deputa- 
tion from the tribes whose jealousy had been 



BIBLE HISTORY 167 

overcome, catne to David at Hebron, and 
offered him, handsomely and heartily, the 
crown of the united kingdom. 

David' s Capture of Jerusalem was far from 
easy, but the advantages of its situation and 
also the intimation of God's will that it 
should be called by His name (II Chron. 6:6) 
determined David to secure it. He fortified 
the stronghold of Zion and prepared a place 
on that hill to which he soon brought up the 
ark from Kirgath-jearim, Then he pro- 
ceeded to extend the town, and laid the foun- 
dation of what, for nearly three thousand 
years has been known as "the Holy City." 

Fifth Epoch — His Royal I^ife at Jerusalem 
is embraced in this period. After capturing 
Jerusalem, David transferred to it the seat of 
Royalty — the future civil and ecclesiastical 
capital of the kingdom. After two success- 
ful encounters and several efforts the ark was 
brought from Kirjith-jearim and placed on 
Mount Zion. 

David' s desire to build a temple was first 
encouraged by the prophet Nathan, but af- 
terwards, in God's name, he was dissuaded. 
As David was to be a man of war and his 
son a man of peace, this honor was passed 
on to Solomon. 

r David's Foreign Warfare was eminently 
successful, subduing the Philistines, the 



168 BIBLE MASTERY 

Moabites, the Edomites, the Amalekites and 
the Syrians. Thus for the first time the 
Jewish territory filled up the whole outline 
originally traced in the promise to Abraham 
(Gen. 15 :18). Mephibosheth, a lame son of 
Jonathan, was brought by David to Jerusa- 
lem and attached to his court, out of pure 
friendship for Jonathan. 

David's Trespass with Bath-sheba stands 
out as one of the darkest crimes in the word 
of God. His wicked scheme to have Uriah 
slain in order to get his wife shows the ter- 
rible remnants of sin that may be in the 
hearts even of converted men. David was 
brought to a sense of his sin through the 
prophet Nathan by means of the parable of 
the ewe lamb. To this period of David's 
life are ascribed certain of the penitential 
psalms, such as the 51st, 130th, 32nd and 
40th. 

David' s domestic troubles from this time on 
were many and grievous. The rebellion of 
Absalom seemed to have been the culmina- 
tion of these. After the vast army of Absa- 
lom was defeated and he had spent time in 
mourning for his son, he became composed 
and sat in the gate, in no hurry to return to 
Jerusalem, or to take possession of the 
throne without an invitation from those who 
had driven him away. The tribes all finally 



BIBLE HISTORY 169 

extended to him their cordial welcome and 
his restoration to his capital and throne was 
under far more agreeable conditions than he 
could have dreamed of when driven away. 

Sheba the Son of Bichri a Benjaminite led an 
insurrection owing to the fact that he felt that 
the ten tribes had not been sufficiently 
regarged in bringing back the king. The 
ten tribes united in this revolt while Judah, 
the rebellious tribe, was now loyal. 

A Fami?ie was a new form of calamity 
given on account of faith being broken with 
tbe Gibeonites. We are instructed that "It 
is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because 
he slew the Gibeonites.' ' 

His last war seems to have been with the 
Philistines. The 18th psalm was composed 
as an appropriate conclusion to the history 
of his active life. 

David' s numbering of the people brought 
another great chastisement upon him. It is 
not very apparent wherein the sin lay, but in 
I Chronicles it is said that ' 'Satan stood up 
against Israel, and provoked David to num- 
ber Israel." The numbering was evidently 
done for a military purpose, to find out how 
many were fit to bear arms. It may have 
been done in the spirit of displaying military 
power, forgetting the real source of Israel's 
safety and glory " some trust in chariots and 



170 BIBLE MASTKRY 

some iii horses ; but we will remember the 
Lord our God." The numbering showed in 
Israel 800,000 and in Judah 500,000 valiant 
men ready to draw the bow. But when the 
numbering was over the king's heart smote 
him and he felt that he had committed a great 
sin. He had the choice of three chastise- 
ments — seven years of famine, three months 
of defeat before his enemies or three days 
pestilence. He chose to fall in the hand of 
the Lord rather than that of man. So the 
Lord sent a destructive pestilence, for which 
David felt himself to blame. The destroying 
angel on his approach to Jerusalem was met 
by David on Mount Moriah, where he offered 
a sacrifice and appeased the anger of God. 
This spot afterwards became the site of the 
temple. 

Arrangements for Erecting a Temple were 
made by David and toward the close of his 
life he handed over to Solomon the immense 
stores which he had collected for that pur- 
pose, together with the pattern which had 
been given him by divine revelation. 

David *s Last Words are supposed to have 
been a prophecy of the coming Messiah : 
"He shall be as the light of the morning, 
when the sun riseth, even a morning without 
clouds; as the tender grass springing out of 
the earth by clear shining after rain." David 



BIBLE HISTORY 171 

was now three score years and ten and was 
visibly approaching his end. Through Bath - 
sheba and Nathan, David defeated his son 
Adonijah in his attempt to occupy the throne, 
and made his son Solomon king. He died 
after reigning about forty years and was 
buried on Mount Zion — the place to which 
he had been the means of imparting such ex- 
traordinary consecration. 

His Devotional Writings though not the 
first; were undoubtedly the most distin- 
guished of all Sacred songs of the Hebrews. 
He himself was the most distinguished 
writer of them all and it is for this 
reason that the w T hole collection has been 
named after him. Nearly half of the collec- 
tion is ascribed to him in the superscriptions, 
but it is hardly probable that he was the 
author of quite so many. Classification of 
the Psalms has been attempted without en- 
tire satisfaction. They may be grouped ac- 
cording to their character, as follows: 

1. Songs of Nature— 8, 19, 29, 65. 

2. Songs of Distress and Trust — 3, 4, 6, 7, 
12, 13, 14, 22, 25, 31, 35, 41, 52-61, 64, 69, 
70, 76, 109, 123, 140-143. 

3. Songs of Contrition— 32, 38, 39, 51. 

4. Songs of Trust, Thanksgiving, and Tri- 
umph— 5, 9, 11, 16-18, 20-23, 27, 28, 33, 34, 



172 BIBLE MASTERY 

36, 37, 40, 62, 63, 68, 101, 103, 109, 110, 138, 
139, 144, 145. 

5. Songs of the Sanctuary— 15, 24, 26, 30, 
122, 133. 

Solomon, the third king, was personally 
famous for his wealth, wisdom and wanton- 
ness. His first youthful energies were em- 
ployed in building the Temple which David 
designed. The magnificence of the Temple 
was very great and according to the most 
moderate computation, the value was not 
less than £120,000,000 sterling. He had 
widely extended his empire and made him- 
self friendly with several other countries, 
some of them remote from Palestine. Egypt 
was one of these. Nearly 500 years had 
elapsed since the exodus, and during that 
long period there had been no intercourse 
between the two countries. He sustained 
also very interesting relations with the king- 
dom of Sheba, in southern Arabia, whose 
queen came all the way to Jerusalem to verify 
the wonderful reports of his wisdom. 

Solomon was a great builder. Besides the 
Temple and his own palaces he had fortified 
cities and built noted aqueducts. Among 
the most celebrated of the cities was "Tad- 
more in the Wilderness, " known in later 
times as Palmyra. Baalath, or Baalbec, was 



BIBLE HISTORY 173 

another city of importance built or improved 
by Solomon. 

His Character is something of a riddle. He 
seems to have started off with a tender heart 
and true reverence for God as is shown in 
his early prayer and the answer thereto, and 
his prayers at the dedication of the Temple 
were humble and fervent; but unfortunately 
Solomon became a grievous backslider as is 
seen in his foreign marriages and in his tol- 
eration of idolatry if not an actual partici- 
pant in it. Everything connected with 
Solomon and his reign was on a grand scale 
— even his sins — entitling him to be called 
' Solomon the magnificent." (I Kings 2 :li). 

The literary and scientific advancement of 
this period must have been great. The 
Psalms of David and the writings of Solomon 
possess extraordinary literary merit and the 
influence and example of two such literary 
kings must have been all powerful over their 
subjects and the world at large. What 
David did for music, Solomon did for natural 
history. 

The Religious State of the times must have 
been noteworthy. Under Samuel a great 
revival of true religion had taken place and 
the schools of the prophets which he estab - 
lished seem to have been attended with re- 
markable blessing. The coming Messiah 



174 BIBLE MASTKRY 

was more clearly revealed and it was ex- 
pressly announced to David that the Great 
Deliverer was to be a member of his family. 
David also as a type of Christ, conveyed a 
fuller and clearer idea of the person and 
character of Christ than any typical person 
that had gone before him. The Psalms of 
David must have served to have enriched the 
devotional feelings among Godly people. 
The distribution of the I^evites and the re- 
modeling of the Temple service must have 
secured much attention to the ordinary ser- 
vices of religion. The Psalms of David bore 
the marks of the camp, of the tumult of arms 
and of the busy bustle of life ; while the Song 
of Solomon with its images of peace and rest 
proclaimed that "the winter was past." 
While the mass of the people either wor- 
shiped idols or worshiped God in accordance 
with the will, example, or the command of 
their rulers there were persons, more or less 
numerous, of earnest piety, who worshiped 
God in spirit and in truth. In comparing 
the history of Solomon in compass with that 
of David, it is to be observed that the whole 
of Solomon's forty years is compressed into 
about nine average chapters in I Kings, 
while the whole of II Samuel and a large 
part of I Samuel are devoted to the exploits 
of David his father. Nearly the half of the 



THE DIVIDED KINGDOM 175 

whole of Solomon's history is given up to 
the account of the building and dedicating 
the Temple (I Kings 5:8). Only what 
makes directly for the glory of God finds an 
extended place in God's book. Solomon was 
a great king but David was Israel's greatest 
king and hero. 

THE DIVIDED KINGDOM. 

(I and II Kings, II Chronicles) 

At the coronation of Rehoboam, Solomon's 
son and successor, the Ten Tribes revolted, 
and with Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, one of 
Solomon's officers, founded the Kingdom of 
Israel ; while the Tribe of Judah alone, save 
a part of Benjamin and probably a few mem- 
bers of Dan, Simeon and other tribes — the 
Tribe of L,evi not being reckoned, adhered to 
Rehoboam and the House of David. 

/. The Kingdom of Israel or of The Ten 
Tribes covers a period of 254 years, from 
B. C. 975 to B. C. 721, and had nineteen 
kings, Jeroboam, the master-spirit in the 
revolution, had early shown singular admin- 
istrative ability, insomuch that Solomon had 
appointed him a sort of viceroy or lieutenant 
'over all the charge of the house of Joseph" 
(I Kings 11 : 28). /While on his way to this 
high office, Abijah, the prophet of Shiloh, 
met him and intimated that, on account of 



176 BIBI<K MASTKRY 

Solomon's encouragement of idolatry, ten of 
the tribes were to be removed from the alle- 
giance of his son, and committed to the 
charge of Jeroboam. Hearing of this an- 
nouncement, Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam; 
but he escaped by fleeing to Egypt, where he 
was protected by King Shishak. On the 
death of Solomon, Jeroboam returned to his 
own country and headed the deputation to 
Rehoboam, and proposed the terms which 
Rehoboam refused. His character and repu- 
tation, and the message from the L,ord through 
Abijah, secured for him the unanimous offer 
of the throne of the new kingdom. 

Jeroboam's Mistakes were apparent from 
the first of his reign. 1. He exerted great 
energy in fortifying the towns, and so showed 
that he set no value on the favor of God, as 
the source of protection and blessing to his 
people. 2. His great offense which covered 
his name with lasting shame was his setting 
up two golden calves, one at Bethel and one 
at Dan — the northern and southern extremi- 
ties of his kingdom. It was both clever and 
impious to the extreme. His object was to 
prevent the people from going up to Jerusa- 
lem to the religious festivals, fearing that 
they might withdraw their allegiance from 
him and transfer it to Judah. Instead of 
three times a year, he required the attendance 



KINGDOM OF ISRAEL 177 

of the people but once. He reigned twenty - 
two years and acquired the unenviable repu- 
tation that he "made Israel to sin." 

Nadab, the son of Jeroboam, succeeded his 
father as king and as evil doer. It was only 
two years after coming to the throne that he 
was murdered by Baasha, a man of Issachar. 
He did nothing of importance to signalize his 
reign. 

Baasha, the murderer of Nadab, took pos- 
session of the kingdom, and for safety's sake 
destroyed all the house of Jeroboam. He 
fortified Ramah to prevent any communica- 
tion with the Kingdom of Judah. Ramah, 
the place of Samuel's residence, was situated 
near one of the great passes that connect the 
southern with the middle portion of the coun- 
try, so that it was well adapted, when forti- 
fied, for the end which he had in view. Like 
his predecessors, Baasha lived in a state of 
warfare with the sister kingdom . The prophet 
Jehu was sent to remonstrate with him rela- 
tive to his wicked course. 

Elah, like his father Baasha, followed in 
the footsteps of Jeroboam, and after a reign 
of two years was murdered by Zimri, one of 
his captains, as Nadab had been at the hands 
of Baasha. Elah and all his house perished 
in his palace, and with him the second royal 
dynasty of Israel came to an end. 



178 BIBLE MASTERY 

Zimri can hardly be said to have formed 
a dynasty, for his reign lasted but a week. 
Being besieged by Otnri, another claimant of 
the crown, and reduced to desperation, he set 
fire to the palace Tirzah and perished in the 
flames. 

Otnri, after four years contest with Tibni, 
came to the throne, and instead of rebuilding 
the ruined palace of Tirzah, he bought the 
neighboring hill of Samaria, and built the 
celebrated city of that name, which name was 
given to it in commemoration of Shemer, the 
former owner of the hill. The reign of Omri 
was one of some external prosperity. In the 
Assyrian inscriptions of the time this mon- 
arch has a special place and the one Israel - 
itish name best known. 

Ahab % son of Omri, was one of the most 
conspicuous names in the history. Under 
him the country received a terrible impulse 
towards idolatry, and consequently towards 
ruin. The special moving power in this di- 
rection, Jezebel, Ahab's wife, a daughter of 
the neighboring king of Phoenicia, and a fa- 
natical promoter of the worship of Baal, the 
Phoenician god. An altar and temple to this 
idol were among the earliest structures of the 
new capital, Samaria. Jezebel was the 
' 'Bloody Mary" of her day and used every 
means against the worship of the true God. 



KINGDOM OF ISRAKI, 179 

Elijah, the prophet, suddenly emerges from 
the woodlands of Gilead and presents himself 
before King Ahab with an extraordinary 
message. It was that "there shall not be 
dew nor rain these years but according to my 
word." After he had delivered his message, 
the prophet disappeared. From this time on to 
the end of his life, Elijah the Tishbite was en - 
gaged in conflicts with regal power. Having 
sounded the defiant note to Ahab, it became 
necessary for him to find a secure hiding 
place. He first found seclusion at Cherith, 
near Jericho, where the ravens fed him, and 
afterwards about a hundred miles away at 
Zarephath, a town in Phoenicia, where he was 
sustained by the poor widow's oil and meal. 

In the Contest on Mount Carmel, after a 
three years drought, the Lord vindicated his 
rightful claim as the true God by fire from 
heaven. The defeated prophets of Baal were 
then brought down the mountain to the bed 
of the Kishon, and put to death. From this 
slaughter the King returned to Carmel and 
joined the sacrificial feast. Elijah also went 
up, apparently on another peak, to pray. 
For seven times he sent his servant out to 
look over the Mediterranean for signs of rain. 
At last the welcome sight appeared and a 
message was sent to the King bidding him 
prepare his chariot and return to his palace, 



180 BIBI.K MASTERY 

lest the rain should swell the Kishon and 
prevent his passing over. The hand of the 
Lord was upon Elijah and he had a right to 
expect that the worship of the true God 
would now be restored in its purity over all 
the land. But the tidings of Elijah's victory 
only inflamed the jealous Jezebel, and he was 
compelled to flee southward for his life. 

At last, worn and weary, he lay down un- 
der a "broom" or retem-tree to die. A mi- 
raculous supply of food and strength carried 
him on through the desert until he reached 
the lonely plains of Horeb, where, six hun- 
dred years before, Moses had caught sight of 
the burning bush and whence he had gone to 
deliver his people. The scenery was well 
fitted to revive the prophet's faith and cour- 
age. In addition to this, God made a special 
communication to him of an encouraging 
kind, and sent him to Damascus to anoint 
Hazael to be king of Syria; then he was to 
anoint Jehu to be king of Israel, and Elisha, 
of Abel-mehola (near Lake of Galilee) to be 
prophet in his stead. 

His journey to Damascus was cheerfully 
undertaken, and his faith and courage won- 
derfully revived. Elisha, a man singularly 
like-minded, was his companion during the 
remainder of his pilgrimage. Ahab was 
slain in the battle which he waged against 



KINGDOM OF ISRAEL 181 

Ben -hadad, king of Syria, but before his fatal 
expedition Ahab had committed a heinous 
crime in getting possession of Naboth's vine- 
yard, for which Elijah had to announce God's 
judgment against him. The curse of Jericho 
(Josh. 6:26) was also literally verified in 
the reign of Ahab. 

Ahaziah, the son of Ahab, reigned about 
two years. He was a man of less force of 
character, but of the same disposition as his 
father. His idolatrous and superstitious turn 
was seen in sending Baal-zebub, the god 
of Ebron to inquire whether he should 
recover from the effects of a fall. Elijah 
remonstrated against this insult to the 
God of Israel, whereupon the king at- 
tempted to seize Elijah, but twice in succes- 
sion a fire from heaven consumed the com- 
pany of fifty soldiers that were sent to arrest 
him. It appears that the Moabites were 
grievously oppressed by Omri and also 
by his son Ahab— in all about forty years. 
After this, probably in about the first year 
of Ahaziah, the Moabites rebelled and re- 
established themselves as masters of the 
whole territory. "The Moabite Stone" re- 
cently discovered, throws light upon the 
events of this time. 

Jehoram, the brother of Ahaziah, succeed- 
ed to the throne and reigned twelve years. 



182 BIBI,K MASTERY 

The beginning of his reign was signalized by 
one of the grandest events in history, Elijah 
the prophet, whose work was now done, was 
translated to heaven without dying. For 
some time past he had resided with Elisha 
near Gilgal, superintending and stimulating 
the school of the prophets, now almost the 
only true fountain of piety in the land. 

The two prophets are led by divine im- 
pulse from Gilgal, probably to some height 
in the neighborhood, thence to Bethel, 
thence to Jericho and to the Jordan. Here, 
at the touch of the prophet's mantle, the 
waters separate, and Elijah and Elisha 
pass over on dry land. The man of God in - 
vites his younger brother to make his part- 
ing request. As the firstborn of Elijah's 
spiritual family he asked for a double portion 
of his spirit, which is not denied him. On- 
ward they go until they reach the mountains 
of Nebo — perhaps the very Pisgah from 
which Moses disappeared, — and so the 
prophet of Israel was borne away into the 
presence of the Master whom lie had so faith ■ 
fully served. EHjah' s work was to oppose 
the mighty tide of corruption which had 
arisen through the fanatical schemes of Ahab 
and Jezebel. He was necessarily a man of 
stern and rigid mold and as such to be admired 
and honored, rather than loved. He repre- 



KINGDOM OF ISRAEL 183 

sented the law in its stern severity rather 
than the gospel in its winning and tender 
love. After the memorable contest at Mount 
Carmel and especially after the death of 
Ahab, the open persecution of the Lord's 
servants ceased, and the holy work of the 
school of the prophets was carried on with- 
out molestation. 

Elishuy after the removal of Elijah, was 
the prominent figure in the history of Israel. 
He was also of stern character and able to 
perform miracles. He healed the bitter wa- 
ters of Jericho, miraculously supplied water 
in time of war, supplied oil for the poor wo- 
man's store, restored the Shunammite's son, 
preserved the sons of the prophets from the 
effect of poisonous herbs atGilgal,and mul-" 
tiplied a present of bread and fruit that had 
been given him, so that it served a hundred 
men. He, whiie living at Gilgal, was the 
means of Naaman's restoration to health and 
conversion to God, 

Jehuy a captain of Jehoram's reign, was 
anointed king by a son of the prophets, and 
commissioned to root out the wicked house 
of Ahab. Never did a man execute a bloody 
commission with more hearty zeal. The 
army having proclaimed him king, Jehu 
mounted his chariot, crossed the Jordan and 
galloped toward Jezreel. Both Jehoram and 



184 BIBI,K MASTERY 

Aliaziah rode out in chariots to meet him, 
but both being of the house of Ahab, Jehu's 
sword thirsted for their blood and he struck 
them down, mortally wounded. Jezebel was 
flung down from a window in Jezreel and 
was devoured by dogs, and seventy sons of 
Ahab and the brethren of Ahaziah were put 
to death in Samaria. The priests and wor- 
shipers of Baal were enticed into the temple 
at Samaria and were killed to a man. And 
thus the mighty house of Ahab was brought 
to desolation. Jehu, thereupon, ascended 
the throne and though zealous in executing 
judgment on the house of Ahab, he was, for 
the most part, regardless of the will of God. 
Although the worship of Baal was abolished, 
he encouraged the worship of calves at Bethel 
and Dan, as originated by Jeroboam. In 
consequence of this unfaithfulness, the king- 
dom of Israel in time fell into the hands of 
the Syrians. 

The reigns of Jehu and those of Jehoahaz 
and Joash or Jehoash, his son and grandson, 
lasted in all about sixty j'ears, but they were 
not signalized by any remarkable events. 
E lis ha, who seems to have been living in re- 
tirement for some time, died at a very ad- 
vanced age in the reign of Joash. He must 
have had a helpful influence over many indi- 
viduals and in many places; but the nation 



THE DIVIDED KINGDOM 185 

at large was too confirmed in idolatry to be 
easily reformed. Still idolatry seems to have 
been checked, so that the destruction of the 
kingdom was for a time arrested. 

Jeroboam II succeeded his son, Joash, to 
the throne. Both he and his son had met 
with considerable success in battle with the 
S Syrians. Indeed, under these two kings the 
kingdom of Israel recovered not a little of 
its former splendor. The reign of Jeroboam 
lasted forty -one years, and was chiefly mem- 
orable for the appearance of some of those 
prophets who have left permanent writings 
behind them. Jonah, Amos and Hosea be- 
long to this period, and were connected chiefly 
with the Kingdom of Israel. 

T/iese prophets were not superior, either in 
gifts or in grace to those who had flourished 
before them, but they had a different function 
to perform. Idolatry had so fastened itself 
upon the people that nothing but a great ca- 
tastrophe or overwhelming judgment would 
bring them back to the true worship of the 
true God. These prophets proclaimed new 
and sweeping judgments against the people 
who forsook God, but also gave promises of 
restoration. 

Jonah, a native of Gath-hepher, in the tribe 
of Zebulun, appears first on the field in the 
reign of Joash (II Kings 14:25). He had 



186 BIBLE MASTKRY 

probably been a pupil of Elisha's, and had 
succeeded him as a prominent messenger of 
God in the Kingdom. His first prophecy 
was, that the dominions of Israel, then greatly 
diminished, should again be enlarged, — the 
result, doubtless, of forsaking idolatry. This 
prophecy was fulfilled in the reign of Jere- 
boam II, who recovered Hamath, Damascus, 
and other places that had been lost. But 
this lasted only a short time before idolatry 
again broke out anew. It was to rebuke this 
state of things that Jonah was commanded to 
undertake a remarkable mission to Nineveh. 
He was ordered to go and testify against that 
great heathen city and to threaten it with de- 
struction on account of its wickedness. 
God's intention seems to have been "to pro- 
voke Israel to jealousy" — that is, to rebuke 
their apathy and to stir them to repentance, 
to show them the result of warning : upon a 
heathen nation under a single effort by a sin- 
gle prophet. Such a sight as this would 
seem sufficient to rebuke a kingdom like Is- 
rael that had been favored with so many emi - 
nent prophets and had received such earnest 
warnings. 

Nineveh was the capital of Assyria and had 
not at the time acquired all the splendor it 
achieved under its later kings, but was nev- 
ertheless a city of great magnitudes. Jonah 



KINGDOM OF ISRAEL 187 

speaks of it as requiring a three days' journey 
to walk around it. Sir A.H. Layard, the cele- 
brated excavator of its temples and palaces, 
says that the whole space containing ruins i-s 
sixty miles around. This vast space must 
have been half town and half country. Jonah 
first shrank from going to Nineveh with the 
commission given him. His book tells how 
he tried to flee from the face of the Lord and 
how his purpose was defeated. Jonah was 
sent on a very unusual mission and the whole 
circumstances of the case justified the extra- 
ordinary miracle. 

The Effect of His Preachings was beyond 
his expectation. Nineveh repented and the 
Lord resolved to spare it. Jonah was dis- 
tressed at the Lord's forbearance, as he 
thought the destruction of the great city of 
Nineveh would possibly have frightened his 
own people Israel to a state of repentance. 
His fault lay in his lack of concern for Ni- 
neveh. The lesson of the gourd was a fitting 
rebuke. The gourd is believed to have been 
a castor oil plant, common near the Tigris, 
that grows up quickly and flourishes in the 
dryest soil, even among stones and rubbish. 
A plant of this kind had served Jonah as a 
shield from the sun, and when it withered 
he missed it and was greatly distressed. So 
God taught him that Nineveh, though not 



188 BIBLK MASTERY 

like Israel, a choice vine, but like this gourd, 
an outlandish plant, might be very useful in 
God's sight, and should be spared. One of 
the purposes for which God had spared Ni- 
neveh afterwards became apparent when the 
walls of that very city enclosed the captive 
countrymen of the ten tribes. 

Amos was another of the prophets that 
flourished in the reign of Jeroboam II. He 
was first a herdsman of Tekoa, in the king- 
dom of Judah; but, when called to be a 
prophet, he appears to have taken up his 
residence at Bethel; and there, with great 
boldness and vehemence, he prophesied 
against Israel and other kingdoms (Amos 
7:13). He rebuked the corruption of man- 
ners prevalent in Israel, charged the great men 
with partiality as judges and with violence 
towards the poor. He represented the succes- 
sive punishments that would come to the peo - 
pie and foretold the captivity of the ten tribes, 

Hosea, a third prophet at this time in the 
kingdom of the ten tribes, began to prophesy 
in the end of the reign of Jeroboam II, and 
continued to do so for six years, till the days 
of Hoshea, the last of the kings of Israel, 
He was to Israel what Jeremiah was to Judah, 
its weeping prophet. The extreme tender- 
ness of some parts of his writings reminds us 
of the Saviour's weeping over Jerusalem. 



KINGDOM OF ISRAHl, 189 

His prophecies were addressed almost entirely 
to the ten tribes. They give a vivid but sad 
picture of the degeneracy of the kingdom. 

The closing reigns of Israel all indicate 
how idolatry terminates in destruction. The 
history of the kings that followed Jeroboam 
II is only one of murderers and profligates. 
Zachariah, son of Jeroboam, was openly 
murdered after a reign of six months* His 
murderer, Shallum, sat but one month on the 
throne and was displaced by one Menahem, 
who reigned for ten years in Samaria. His 
son, Pekahiah, reigned but two years, having 
been killed by Pekah, one of his captains. 
Pekah reigned for twenty years but was at 
last murdered by Hoshea. It was ten years 
through tumult and anarchy before Hoshea 
succeeded in establishing himself upon the 
throne. (II Kings 16 and 17 : l). 

After a reign of nine years Hoshea and his 
people were carried captive by Shalmaneser, 
king of Assyria and thus the kingdom of the 
ten tribes came to an end. The kingdom as 
such was never restored nor did ' * the outcasts 
of Israel" ever attempt to return in a body 
to their land. A few may have returned with 
the Jewish exiles to whom Cyrus gave per- 
mission but the masses remained outcasts. 
It is possible that some went to India and 
others to Armenia. (James I. 1). 



190 BIBLE MASTERY 

THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH. 
From Separation to Captivity. 

(I and II Kings: II Chronicles: Isaiah: 
Jeremiah), 

The Kingdom of Judah lasted about 400 
(exactly 388) years after its separation from 
the ten tribes. It had during that period 
nineteen kings, all of the same dynasty, and 
lineal descendants of King David. Although 
the number of kings was the same as that of 
Israel its duration was about 150 (exactly 
134) years longer. The shortened lives of 
many of the rulers of Israel were due to the 
many frequent assassinations so that while 
the nineteen kings of Israel reigned only 
about 250 years the nineteen kings of Judah 
reigned about 400 years. From first to last 
the kings of Israel were all bad; and yet on 
the other hand, while some of the kings of 
Judah, as Jehoram, Ahaz, Manasseh and 
Amon were fearfully wicked, six — Asa, Je- 
hoshaphat, Uzziah, Jotham, Hezekiah and 
Josiah are mentioned with great praise, and 
others are commended. 

Jiidah' s physical advantage was vastly in- 
ferior to that of Israel. It had only a frac- 
tion of Israel's population. Its territory 



KINGDOM OF JUDAH 191 

compared neither with Israel's in extent, fer- 
tility or beauty. The Ten Tribes took the 
larger and best part of the country. Only 
the rocky and hilly country was left Judah, 
while the vast fertile plains were occupied 
by Israel- Yet God had a future for Judah. 
The hope of the world was bound up with the 
fate of that little Kingdom. 

Rehoboam, as king of Judah, first mustered 
an army of 18Q 5 000, and tried to force the re- 
voltant tribes back to their allegiance. The 
prophet Shemaiah by divine command stopped 
the intended campaign. The king, however, 
continued to show that his trust for security 
was in material defenses rather than in the 
favor and blessing of God. 

There Are Four Religious Periods in the 
history of Judah. The various revivals and 
declines of religion furnish these divisions, 
Under Rehoboam and Abijam religion de- 
clined, from which it began to recover in the 
reign of Asa. 

U?ider Jehoshaphat the kingdom regained 
much of the prosperity it had enjoyed in the 
days of King David, to whom he seems to 
have borne a considerable resemblance (II 
Chron. 17:3). He, himself, seems to have 
made a missionary tour over the whole king- 
dom, for the purpose of stirring the religious 
spirit oi his subjects, Jehoshaphat deeply 



192 BIBI<K MASTKRY 

felt the evils of the schism between Judah 
and Israel and was induced to form an alli- 
ance with Ahab as a possible means of some 
help, Jehu, the prophet, rebuked him for 
the a!lia?ice on his return from the battle in 
which Ahab was killed and he ( Jehoshaphat) 
had narrowly escaped. 

A Second Decline commenced with the 
reign of Jehoram, who succeeded his father 
Jehoshaphat at the age of 32, and reigned 
eight shears. He was the son -in -law of Ahab 
and Jezebel and encouraged his people to 
adopt the abominable practices of idolatry. 

Ahaziah, son of Jehoram, reigned but for 
a single year. The evil counsel of his mother 
Athaliah kept him from profiting by the ex- 
perience of his father; he following his wicked 
example was an active promoter of idolatry. 
He was slain by Jehu, while in alliance with 
Jehoram, king of Israel, his mother's brother, 
as the attempt was being made to wrest 
Ramoth-gilead from the Syrians. 

Athaliah, the daughter of Queen Jezebel 
whose blood the dogs of Jezreel had just 
licked, and the mother of King Ahaziah, ruled 
six years with a cruel and tyrannical hand. 
The kingdom groaned beneath the infamy of 
this woman until Jehoida, the high priest, 
proclaimed the youthful Joash as king. The 
temple which had been built in Jerusalem, to 



KINGDOM OF JUDAH 193 

Baal, was demolished and the high priest of 
idolatry was put to death amid the ruins of 
his altars and images. Joash began a reign 
at the early age of seven which continued for 
forty years. While Jehoida lived, Joash 
gave attention to the outward forms of re- 
ligion, but after the death of the. High Priest 
he lapsed into the ways of the house of Ahab. 

Amaziak reigned twenty -nine years with 
very much the same spirit as his father. His 
reign was signalized by a war with Edom, in 
which he triumphed and a war with Israel in 
which he was signally defeated, L,ike his 
father he died a violent death at the hands of 
his servants. 

Uzziah reigned fifty -two years, the longest 
reign yet known in Judah. He was a king, 
remarkable in activity and talent. His ca- 
pacity for administration resembled that of 
King David. Like his predecessors, he first 
regarded God but afterwards seemed to forget 
Him. The historian of his reign was the 
prophet Isaiah. Probably, it was from his 
writings, that the brief account of him in 
Chronicles was compiled. Jotham, who suc- 
ceeded Uzziah reigned sixteen years.. He 
seemed to have special talent for material 
improvements. He built cities, castles, and 
tow T ers in various places and covered the 
ridge of Ophel, in Jerusalem, with houses. 



194 BIBI.E MASTKRY 

From the allusions in Isaiah we learn that 
the prevailing state of morals in Jerusalem 
was lamentably low. In the reign of this 
king, the Ammonites were subdued but on 
the other hand, Pekah, king of Israel and 
Rezin, king of Syria, began to form a threat- 
ening conspiracy against him. 

Ahaz reigned for sixteen years and it was 
during this period that true religion sank to 
its lowest ebb. Open apostacy was now the 
order of the day. Images of Baal, altars in 
high places consecrated to idolatry, did not 
suffice King Ahaz; he crowned his abomi- 
nable practices by burning his children in the 
valley of Hinom. Divine w r rath was swiftly 
visited upon this flagrant sin. 

Hezekiah, son of Ahaz, was king for 
twenty -nine years and introduced new con- 
ditions of life. He was a man of devoted 
personal piety and of powerful influence upon 
others. He set himself to revive the whole 
economy of Moses, which had fallen into 
complete neglect. His posts traversed the 
whole length of the kingdom to invite the 
faithful to the Passover at Jerusalem, with 
the words, "Come out of her, my people, 
that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that 
ye receive not of her plagues." There was 
really a genuine revival toward God and bet- 
ter things during this reign. 



KINGDOM OF JUDAH 195 

The great external event of Hezekiah's 
reign was his contest with one of the greatest 
warriors of ancient times — Sennacherib, king 
of Syria. Hezekiah revolted from the king 
of Assyria and refused to pay the tribute 
which his fatherhad promised. In the four- 
teenth year of Hezekiah, Sennacherib, having 
succeeded to the Assyrian throne, prepared 
to invade Judah and force Hezekiah to pay 
the tribute which he had refused. Senna- 
cherib advanced upon Hezekiah, but finally, 
according to a prophecy of Isaiah, the Syrian 
army was slain in one night to the number of 
185,000, by miraculous intervention. The 
destruction of this army was one of the 
grandest and most striking events of Hebrew 
history. It was w 7 ortby of a place by the side 
of the memorable overthrow of Pharaoh, 800 
years before. It was an admirable means of 
giving support to faith and courage in future 
trials, to trust in God. But unhappily it 
seems to have been so perverted as to minis- 
ter only to pride and self-confidence and to 
make the people in Jeremiah's time absolutely 
certain that Jerusalem would not fall into the 
hands of the Chaldeans; though in the latter 
case, God's word was as explicit about Jeru- 
salem's fall as in the former, that it should 
be delivered. The Nineveh monuments, re- 
cently deciphered, show Sennacherib to have 



196 BIBI.K MASTERY 

been a very great warrior with enormous re- 
sources. Hezekiah's life was prolonged fif- 
teen years in answer to prayer. It was dur- 
ing Sennacherib's invasion that he was seized 
with the remarkable illness which nearly 
proved fatal. This period of the history of 
Judah was signalized by the appearance of 
some eminent prophets who left written 
prophecies behind them. 

Joel, son of Pethuel, is thought to have 
flourished about the time of Uzziah, before 
the nation had sunken into the state of cor- 
ruption w r hich it reached in the reign of Ahaz. 
Joel mentions as enemies of his country, the 
Phoenicians, the Philistines, Idumaeans, and 
the Egyptians; but not the Assyrians or the 
Babylonians. He tells of an approaching 
famine and calls to repentance, fasting and 
prayer. He promises the removal of im- 
pending evils and foretells the day of great 
blessing. His voice and written testimony 
must have prepared the way for the revival 
of religion under Hezekiah. 

Isaiah, though little is known of his per- 
sonal history, began to prophesy in the reign 
of Uzziah, and came forward prominently 
during the reigns of Ahaz and Hezekiah. 
Tradition represents him as a member of the 
royal family and even as father-in-law of 
King: Manasseh, by whom, it is said, he was 



KINGDOM OF JUDAH 197 

sawn asunder. He seems to have occupied 
a leading place under Hezekiah in the coun- 
sels of the nation. It is hardly to be ques- 
tioned but that Hezekiah himself owed much 
of his strong religious convictions to this 
messenger of God. 

Micah and N ahum prophesied during nearly 
the same period as Isaiah. 

These two prophets, together with Isaiah, 
and Kmg Hezekiah do not seem to have been 
separated by long intervals and when they 
perished it could hardly have been known 
from what evils they had been taken, for 
scarcely had they been gathered to their 
fathers before the elements of a frightful 
storm began to darken the horizon. 

The Third Decline and Revival begins with 
Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, and closes 
with Josiah and those associated with him. 
Manasseh became king at the early age of 12 
years. He reigned fifty-five years, or most 
of that time. He was born about the time 
when the L,ord gave his father the memorable 
deliverance from Sennecherib. He seemed 
to entirely undo the good work of his father 
and he not only reared groves and images to 
Baal, but the very Temple was polluted by 
them. In vain did the prophets of the L,ord 
remonstrate with him. It had no effect. He 
was finally carried by Esarhaddon, king of 



198 BIBLK MASTKRY 

Assyria, as prisoner to Babylon. By extra- 
ordinary mercy of God Manasseh was con- 
verted to righteousness and was in time set 
free and shown favor by the king. On re- 
tiring to Jerusalem he exerted himself to 
undo the mischief he had wrought, and to set 
up the worship of the true God. He found 
the task of undoing old evils very difficult, 
and his efforts to reform the kingdom were 
not very successful. 

Anion, the son of Manasseh, imitated his 
father for two years in the worst practices and 
also restored idolatry, and then was suddenly 
cut off by assassination. 

Josiah, the son of Amon ascended the 
throne at the age of 8 years, and at 16, the 
eighth year of his reign, he began to seek af- 
ter the God of his fathers. In the twelfth 
year of his reign, or when he was 20, he began 
to purge the land from idolatry- His rule 
seems to have extended over both Judah and 
Israel, and embraced all the territory west of 
the Jordan, for he broke down the altars of 
Baal, cut down the groves and the carved 
and molten images throughout all the 
land. (II Kings 22:1-2; II Chronicles 34 : 
1-7.) j The active advisor of Josiah in 
his plans for reformation at first >.was 
doubtless Zephaniah. A year after the work 
began, Jeremiah, a new prophet in the 



KINGDOM OF JUDAH 199 

neighboring town of Anathoth began to ut- 
ter the word of the L,ord, and so became a 
most congenial and delightful friend and 
helper. Josiah ordered the temple at Jeru- 
salem to be repaired and also the great chest 
containing the freewill offerings to be opened 
so as to get the money to pay the workmen. 
It was at this time that the lost Bible came to 
light. For almost a thousand years — from the 
judges to the captivity — the references to it 
are few and far between. There is no certain 
reference to any written legislation in the 
Judges, Ruth or the two Samuels. The first 
reference to it in connection with the history 
of David was made on his dying bed — I Kings 
2:3 — the first mention of a written law since 
the death of Joshua, four hundred years be- 
fore. After this there are but three other 
casual allusions to the law of Moses in the 
First Book of Kings, and in the Second Book 
only five besides the reference to finding the 
lost Bible. (II Kings 22-23; II Chrou. 24.) 
The fact that the Bible was lost does not 
necessarily show that the people were en- 
tirely ignorant of the law; for in the early 
days it was the business of the priesthood to 
instruct the people, and in the times of the 
monarchy the people were reminded of their 
duty by the prophets and the seers. ' It was 
true, however, that the instruction ot thepeo- 



200 BIBLE MASTERY 

pie was sadly neglected. The copies of the 
law were very few, possibly only two in ex- 
istence — the original official copy (Deut. 
31:24-26), and the copy for the use of the 
king, (Deut. 17:18). With wicked kings 
and a corrupt priesthood, it is not difficult to 
see how the book became lost. The finding 
of the book proved to be a great blessing to 
the people. By royal proclamation the true 
religion was exalted, and the people with 
their monarch swore allegiance to Joshua and 
they celebrated with grandeur the distinctive 
feast of the Passover with even greater strict - 
ness and solemnity than had been in the days 
of Samuel. 

The Battle of Megiddo brought the auspi- 
cious life and reign of Josiah to a disastrous 
ending. . It seems that Pharoah — Necho, 
King of Egypt, undertook an expedition 
against the countries adjacent to the Eu- 
phrates, and Josiah, hearing of this, and feel- 
ing himself bound by the obligation made 
by his father Manasseh, to prevent the Egyp- 
tian army from passing through Palestine, 
mustered a large body at Megiddo with the 
view of checking the Egyptian forces, and 
though reminded by the King of Egypt that 
he had no quarrel with Judah, still Josiah 
persisted in opposing the Egyptians and was 
slain in the battle. On account of this death 



KINGDOM OF JUDAH 201 

Jeremiah was greatly grieved. It is said 
( Jeremiah lamented for Josiah with a depth 
of tender feeling even beyond that of David 
for Jonathan/' 

Necho advanced to the Euphrates, took the 
stronghold of Car-chemish and established 
his authority over the country west of the 
Euphrates. After three months he returned 
from his victories, aud acted as lord -para- 
mount of Judah. It was at this time that the 
great Assyrian Empire was approaching its 
fall. The Meddo and Babylonians had re- 
volted from Babylonia and laid siege to Nin- 
eveh itself. After several repulses Nineveh 
was taken and destroyed according to the 
predictions of the Hebrew prophets. 

5. The final decline begins with Jehoahaz 
who had reigned only three months when he 
was thrown into chains at Riblah by Necho 
and carried into Egypt. Necho also imposed 
a heavy tribute on the company and placed 
Eliakim son of Josiah, on the throne, instead 
of Jehoahaz, and changed his name to Je- 
hoiakim. He reigned eleven years, and was 
wicked, godless and reckless. 

The First Invasion of Nebuchadnezzar 
comes at this time. He was the son of Na- 
bopolassar, King of Babylon and his father's 
coadjutor and lieutenant. Having driven 



202 BIBLE MASTERY 

the Egyptians from the fortress of Car -Che - 
mish, Nebuchadnezzar advanced to recover 
Syria and Palestine. Jehoiakim at first sub- 
mitted, but afterwards rebelled, and so Neb- 
uchadnezzar took Jerusalem by force. For 
some reason, however, he spared Jehoiakim, 
but carried off several of the princes of Judah, 
among whom were Daniel, Shadrach, Me- 
shak and Abed -nego, Jehoiakim possibly of- 
fered the men of piety to Nebuchadnezzar 
thinking that he might thereby rid himself of 
those godly lives which must have constantly 
reminded him of his father's virtues and his 
own sins, and Jeremiah rightly mourned the 
departure of these godly youths. It was 
doubtless in the reign of Jehoiakim that Jer- 
emiah, driven by persecution from his na- 
tive Anathoth, went to reside at Jerusalem. 
At the death of Josiah, a great moral change 
took place and there began at once within the 
walls of Jerusalem one of the noblest and 
most glorious moral contests which the pages 
of sacred history record. For more than 
twenty years Jeremiah, almost single- 
handed, gentle and timid, but strong in a 
higher strength, stood forth for the L,ord 
in opposition to the united power and fury of 
the kings, princes and chiefs of Jerusalem. 

Jehoiakim or Jeconiah ruled for three 
months. 



KINGDOM OF JUDAH 203 

Zedekiah, the last King of Judah, an uncle 
of Jehoiakim and another son of Josiah, was 
placed on the throne by Nebuchadnezzar. 
Through all the eleven years of his reign, 
Jeremiah prophesied of the threatening judg- 
ments to come. In Zedekiah's eleventh year, 
the city was taken by Nebuchadnezzar, and 
Zedekiah, attempting to flee, was caught and 
was made to witness the execution of his 
two sons. His own eyes were then put out 
and he was carried in brazen chains to Baby- 
lon where he died in prison. The temple was 
then rifled and burned to the ground, the 
walls of the city overthrown, and the palaces 
and public buildings reduced to ruins and the 
inhabitants were carried into captivity. The 
cruelties suffered by the people were fright- 
ful during this last siege. The lamentations 
of Jeremiah present us with vivid pictures of 
the condition of things, 

Jeremiah, who had faithfully warned his 
people of the coming calamities from Baby- 
lon, denounced also, fearlessly, the coming 
destruction of the haughty empire of Nebuch- 
adnezzar. We have no certain knowledge 
of the fate of Jeremiah, who had at one time, 
on account of faithfulness, been 3 cast into a 
deep pit, where he would have died but for 
the deliverance which came to him from an 
Ethiopian. 9 According to tradition, his coun- 



204 BIBI«K MASTKRY 

trynien, offended by his faithfulness, put him 
to death. 

Habakkuk was another prophet during the 
last years of Jerusalem. Nothing is known 
of his history. He mournfully foretold the 
destruction and desolation of Jerusalem; but 
his book concludes with the sublime song 
pleading for revival and expressing perfect 
confidence in God. 

Obadiah was also a prophet of this time 
and he seems to have been raised up to "bring 
down the pride of Esau." He foretold that 
while Edom should be desolate, there should 
be upon Mt. Zion deliverance and the king- 
dom should be the Lord's. 

The Social and Religious Life during the 
monarchy may be discovered in the writings 
of the prophets which abound in allusions to 
the state of society and religion. The mod- 
eration and equality of earlier days had been 
departed from, and wealth and luxurious liv- 
ing were the things sought for. The dress, 
especially of the ladies, was often most lux- 
urious and highly ornamented (Isa. 3:18-23). 
Splendid equipages were also an object of 
ambition (Isa. 21 :7). 

The Intellectual Culture of the period must 
have been both high and low. * Isaiah's ref- 
erence to "the counsellor and eloquent ora- 
tor/ ' the fact that King Uzziah exhibited 



KINGDOM OF JUDAH 205 

great mechanical and engineering skill, and 
the reference of Amos to "the seven stars and 
Orion,' ' as if the elements of Astronomy 
were generally known indicate a high degree 
of culture. On the other hand, the frequent 
references to soothsayers and sorceries show 
a low intellectual condition. 

The Moral Status of the people was gener- 
ally ver^ low. Immorality was abounding, 
the oppression of the poor was most flagrant 
and vices of every description were practiced. 
(Amos 7 :17). 

CONTEMPORARY HISTORY. 

1. Egypt in the reign of Rehoboam made its 
power felt in the successful invasion of Judaea 
and the capture of Jerusalem by a great army 
under Shishak or Sheshonk I, King of Egypt. 

The Submission of Egypt to Ethiopia came 
about towards the end of the Kingdom of the 
Ten Tribes, more than 700 years B, C-, by 
Sabaes, a conqueror from Ethiopia who sub- 
dued Egypt and usurped the throne. He is 
called So in Scripture and was the king on 
whom Hoshea vainly relied for aid against 
the Assyrians. Tirhakah, another king of 
the Ethiopian dynasty, was the prince whose 
rumored advance against Sennacherib led 
that king to urge the submission of Hezekiah 
(Isa. 37:9). 



206 BIBLE MASTERY 

The Submission to Babylon came about this 
time through Psamnuticus, who led the mem- 
orable siege .of Ashdod or Azotus that lasted 
29 years. He was followed by Necho, who 
led the battle when King Josiah was killed. 
His successor was Apries,the Pharaoh -hophra 
of the Bible (Jer. 44:30). Great efforts were 
made by Egypt to conquer Asia, but Nebuch- 
adnezzar repelled the invaders, and at last 
Egypt had to pay homage to Babylon. 

2, Assyria in its early history is shrouded 
in obscurity. Between the time when it ab- 
sorbed Babylon and became the ruling power 
in that part of the world, and the time when 
it was itself destroyed and absorbed by 
Babylon, there were several revolutions and 
many new occupants of the throne. Nineveh 
was not at all times the capital, or seat of 
monarchy, but it was always the largest and 
most important city of the empire. 

The Records of Nineveh as deciphered show 
chiefly two things — lists of campaigns and 
conquests on one hand and accounts of the 
great public buildings erected by the several 
kings on the other, 

Sennacherib ,who at great cost repaired 
and beautified Nineveh, was a great warrior 
and destroyed in Chaldaea seventy -nine cities 
and eight hundred and twenty villages. He 
carried off at one time more thar, 200,000 



CONTEMPORARY HISTORY 207 

prisoners. In the light of such military pres - 
tige, Hezekiah's resistance seemed sublime. 
Esarhaddon, who carried Mannasseh captive 
to Babylon and Sardanapulus who invaded 
Egypt and defeated Tirhakah and took pos- 
session of the country were great conquerors. 
3. Babylon in its early history like that of 
Assyria, is but little known. For a long 
time it was a dependent kingdom under 
Assyria. Occasionally its kings asserted in- 
dependence. This was true in the time of 
Hezekiah. But the kingdom was soon after 
conquered by the Assyrians. The last As- 
syrian king appointed Nahopolasser governor 
of Babylon. Nahopolassar, in company with 
the Median monarch, destroyed Nineveh, 
and Nahopolassar was succeeded by Nebuch- 
adnezzar, the destroyer of Jerusalem. 

4* Media as a power seemed for a long 
time to have borne some dependent relation 
to Assyria, but at length under their King 
Cyaxares, they achieved their independence 
and joined with the Babylonians in destroy- 
ing Nineveh. Under Cyrus, the Medes and 
Persians united and founded the great em- 
pire that succeeded the Babylonian, 

5* Phoenicia, though not altogether a 
stranger to arms and war, was specially noted 
for its commercial greatness. It was in this 
period that Tyre reached its zenith. When 



208 BIBLE MASTERY 

Elijah the prophet passed through it on his 
way to Zeraphath, he must have been as- 
tonished at the markets, warehouses and 
ships (Ezekiel 27.) 

6. Carthage was a great empire which 
originally sprung from a colony of Tyre. It 
was founded 880 B. C* — about the time when 
Jezebel, a native of the same district, was 
forcing on Egypt the worship of Baal. It is 
probable that the rapid extension of the Car- 
thaginians did much to spread the impure 
idolatrous worship which they brought from 
Tyre. 

7. Greece for a longtime after the Trojan 
war, remained in an unsettled state, but when 
the fermentation subsided, monarchy had 
been abolished, and republican constitutions 
had been introduced into nearly all its states. 
There was a sort of unity produced through 
national games and other institutions, but 
not by any common political bond. 

In time two of the Greek states, Sparta and 
Athens raised themselves far above their 
neighbors. Sparta's law giver, Lycurgus, 
who flourished about 880 B. C, was a con- 
temporary of Elijah and Jehosaphat. About 
the end of the period now before us, Solon, the 
greatest law giver of Athens was propound- 
ing his laws to the Athenians. It is remark- 



CONTEMPORARY HISTORY 209 

able that both he and Lycurgus had visited 
Egypt in search of knowledge and wisdom. 
If, according to Herodotus, Homer lived 
about 900 B. C, he must have been compos- 
ing the "Iliad" when Elijah and Elisha were 
maintaining God's cause in Israel and when 
Jehosaphat was fighting the same battle in 
Judah. Hesiod, Tyrtaeus, Alcaeusand Sap- 
pho sung their verses in the seventh century 
before Christ; and Aesop may have pub- 
lished his fables at Athens while Jeremiah 
was announcing his prophecies at Jerusalem. 

The Greeks while giving an immense im- 
pulse to literature, philosophy and art gave 
also a new aspect to the religion w T hich 
they accepted. They excelled in what may 
be called the poetry of religion. Every- 
thing was made bright, lively and beautiful 
but there was really no effectual provision for 
removing the guilt of man and bringing him 
into loving fellowship with God and for ele- 
vating him to a life worthy of his high ca- 
pacities. Socrates and Plato found little help 
in the popular religion and they were able to 
contribute but little from their own resources. 
In Greece was not found much moral earn- 
estness or a very deep sense of sin. 

Rome presents a striking contrast to Greece. 
Instead of great diversity in manners, so- 
ciety, arts and governments the Roman's 



210 BIBLE MASTKRY 

were noted for a rigid unity, a sturdy plod- 
ding, indomitable purpose and a painstaking 
sagacity that made them always alert to dis- 
cover anything in their favor. In the advanced 
periods of their history they seemed to live 
for conquest alone. 

Rome is said to have been founded B. C, 
752, about the time when the Assyrian king 
was beginning to invade the kingdom of Is- 
rael. The early history of the Romans is full 
of legend and fable and not till a later date 
have we authentic facts regarding the people 
that were destined, under God's providence, 
to be the connecting link between the great 
continents of Asia, Europe and Africa, and 
finally to prepare the way for the universal 
empire of Messiah. 

THE CAPTIVITIES. 

From the time when the seed of Jacob was 
taken into captivity and scattered abroad to 
the destruction of Jerusalem, A. D. 70, the 
Jewish people were, in the main, a subject 
people and their land was a province of some 
world empire. The period is therefore called 
the period of the Jewish Province. It is well 
first to get a clear view of the several captiv- 
ities. These came under the two great king- 
doms, Israel and Judah. 



THE CAPTIVITIES 



211 



1. The Captivity of Israel (the ten tribes) 
in the successive invasions of the kingdom by 
the Kings of Assyria, with the results of each, 
maybe seen by glancing at the following 
table : 





CO 


C* 


M 


X08fBSnj3f JO 


oc 


iH 


cj 


nOT^DTlJ;89Q 








ajojaq J"B9^ 








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212 



BLBLE MASTERY 



2. The Captivity of Judah> as in the case 
of the ten tribes, had been in successive de- 
tachments—three in number, as follows: — 





(A 








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THE RESTORATION 213 

The Prophets before the captivity were Jo- 
nah, Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Micah, Nahum 
and Zephaniah. 

During the captivity (of Judah) Jeremiah, 
Habakkuk, Obadiah, Ezekiel and Daniel, 

THE RESTORATION- 

The Jews were restored to their own coun- 
try in several expeditions to Jerusalem. 
There were three Jewish leaders and three 
Persian Kings especially prominent in the 
work. 

1. The first Jewish leader was Zerubbabel 
who left Babylon when Cyrus came to the 
throne, B. C, 535. He completed the re- 
building of the temple, after an interval of 
about 20 years, in the reign of Darius Hys- 
taspes. 

2. The second Jewish leader was Ezra, who 
went from Babylon about 80 years after Ze- 
rubbabel, B. C, 458, in the seventh year of 
Artaxerxes IvOngimamis. He labored chiefly 
to restore the institutions of Moses. 

3. The third Jewish leader was Nehemiah, 
who went up from Susa or Shusan, in the 
twentieth year of the same Artaxerxes, B. C. 
445. He rebuilt the wall and set up the 
gates of Jerusalem, and promoted many re- 
forms. After returning for a time to Susa, 
he visited Jerusalem a second time. It was 



214 BIBLE MASTERY 

soon after this that Malachi closed the canon 
of the Old Testament. The story of Esther 
comes in a few years before the time of Ezra. 
The Prophets after the restoration were 
Joel, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. The 
place and mission of all the prophets should 
be carefully studied with the Bible in hand. 

INTERVAL BETWEEN THE OLD TES- 
TAMENT AND THE NEW. 

From Malachi, the last prophet of the Old, 
to John the Baptist, the herald of the New 
Testament, there is a great historical chasm 
of about 400 years. During all that time 
there was neither prophet nor inspired writer 
among the Jews. Our knowledge of this 
period is derived from the writings of Jose- 
phus, from some of the books'of the Apoc- 
rypha, and from the notices of Greek and 
Latin historians. Though no further devel- 
opment of revealed religion took place dur- 
ing these four centuries, they constituted a 
very memorable period in general history. 
They witnessed the fall of the Persian em- 
pire, the rise and fall of the Macedonian, the 
rise of the Roman, and the seat of empire 
changed from Asia to Europe. 

There are Six Sections of the period which 
may be sketched in connection with corres- 
ponding divisions of Jewish histor}\ 



OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT 215 

1. The Persians were the nominal masters 
of Palestine from 536 to 333, B.C. From the 
time of Nehemiah to the end of Persian rule, 
very little of interest happens; the country is 
annexed to Syria and governed by the high 
priests who in turn are subject to the Syrian 
governors. The office of the high priest is 
most sought after and there are many dis- 
graceful contests for it. 

2. Palestine was under the Greeks from 333 
to 323 B. C. Alexander the Great conquered 
it in 333. He was of Macedon and conquered 
Greece, Syria, Palestine, Egypt and Persia. 
He was favorably disposed towards the Jews 
(according to tradition), and spared the city 
of Jerusalem. While in Egypt he founded 
the city of Alexandria, and encouraged many 
Jews to settle there, granting them special 
privileges. 

3. Palestine was under the Ptolemys from 
323 to 204 B. C. At the death of Alexander 
his empire was divided among four of his 
generals : Ptolemy, Lysimachus, Cassander 
and Seleucus — Egypt and Palestine going to 
Ptolemy. One of the Ptolemys, Ptolemy 
Philadelphia was friendly to the Jews, and 
under his patronage the Hebrew Scriptures 
are translated into Greek, forming the Sep- 
tuagint. 



216 BIBLE MASTERY 

4. Palestine was under the Syrians from 
204 to 165 B. C. It was during this period 
that Jerusalem was besieged and many thou- 
sand Jews were slain and their temple was 
polluted by the sacrifice of a son upon its al- 
tar. It was at this time that Judea became 
independent under Judas Maccabaeus. 

5, The Maccabees ruled Palestine from 165 
to 63 B. C, when the temple was purged and 
re -dedicated to the service of Jehovah. Sev- 
eral of the Maccabean family ruled until 63 
B. C. When Jerusalem was taken by Pom- 
pey and Hyrcanus was placed upon the throne 
(63-40 B. C), he being subject to Rome, 
payed a yearly tribute. Palestine was under 
the Romans from 63 to 4 B. C. 

Hyrcanus was king from 63 to 40 B. C, 
followed by Antigonus, a son of Aristobuius 
II, who ruled from 40 to 37 B. C. Herod the 
Great was made King by the Roman Senate 
on account of help rendered the Romans and 
ruled from 37 to 4 B. C. It was during his 
reign that the temple was rebuilt, being made 
larger and grander than the previous one. 

He also erected magnificent buildings in 
Jerusalem, rebuilt Samaria and as a crown- 
ing work built the great seaport of Caesarea. 
It was in the last year of his reign that Jesus, 
the Christ, was born in Bethlehem of Judea. 



THK I.IFK OF CHRIST 217 

PERIOD SIX. 

The Life of Christ. 

The central figure in all the Bible is Jesus 
Christ. His importance in the Old Testa- 
ment is indicated in John 5 : 39 ; Luke 24 : 
27 ; Acts 10 : 43. His relation to every man 
is expressed in John 1 : 9. We have in Him 
therefore a deeper interest than in any other 
man who ever lived. 

Out of the large number of facts recorded, 
we have chosen a few of the most important. 
These may be studied to advantage under 
two heads : The general aspect of his life and 
the grouping of events in chronological order . 

/. The general aspects of His life were as 

follows : 

1. It was a short life. This man, who has 
influenced the world more than any other, 
lived less than thirty -five years. His minis- 
try was not more than three years and a half 
at the longest. 

2. It was a life passed wholly in Palestine, 
Only once do we read of his journeying near 
any other country, and it is not probable that 
he went beyond its borders. (Mark 7 : 24). 
He neyer enjoyed the benefits of foreign 
travel, of communion with learned men of 
the great schools of Athens or Alexandria. 



218 BIBI<E MASTERY 

3. It was a life among the common people. 
He lived in a despised province (John 7 : 41, 
52); came from a despised town (Johnl : 46), 
and was a working mechanic (Mark 6:3). 
He received only a common education (John 
7 : 15), and yet out of these lowly surround- 
ings he grew up the one exalted character, 
the one perfect life in all human history. 

4. It was an active life. The first thirty 
years may have been spent in quiet prepara- 
tion but the three years of his ministry were 
very busy (Mark 1 : 36-38; 2: 1-4; 6: 31-34; 
John 21 : 25). 

//. The Grouping of the Events of Christ's 
life into seven periods, chronologically, is a 
helpful means of getting a comprehensive 
view of the subject. 

1. The first period is His thirty years of 
preparation, of which the following facts 
should be noticed: (l) It begins with his 
birth, I^uke 2:7, and ends with his tempta- 
tion, Matt. 4:1. (2) It is related mainly 
by Luke (Luke 1 to 4), with some facts in 
Matthew (Matt. 1: 2; 4: l-ll) and a brief 
mention of its closing events in Mark (Mark 
1: 9-13). (3) It was passed mainly in 
Galilee, though with isolated events in Judea, 
in Egypt (Matt. 2: 14, 15), ana in Perea 
(John 1 : 28). (4) It was the longest of all 
the periods— nine -tenths of his life — and yet 



THE LIFE OF CHRIST 219 

it is the one having the fewest incidents re- 
corded. For eighteen years of the period no 
events are known. 

2. The Year of Obscurity comes next. In 
this and the next two succeeding periods the 
year is not a precise epoch, and may be a 
little less or more, (l) It begins with the 
first followers, John 1 : 35-37, and ends with 
the return to Galilee, John 4 : 43-44. (2) It 
is related only by John who, of all the gospel 
writers, records the visits of Jesus in Judea 
and Jerusalem. (3) It was principally spent 
in Judea, though He visited Galilee, and on 
the way made a visit to Samaria. (4) It was 
rightly called l ' year of obscurity " since but 
little is known of its aims, its events or its 
results. It was accompanied with miracles 
(John 3 : 20 ; 4 : 1) . Still at the close of this 
year he had but few followers, and went to 
Galilee to begin his ministry anew. 

3. His year of Popularity was in marked 
contrast with the year before, (l) This year 
began with the rejection at Nazareth, Luke 
4 : 1.4-40, and ends with the discourse on the 
Bread of Life (John 6: 25-71), a day or two 
after the miracle of Feeding the Five Thous- 
and. (2) It was related by Matthew, Mark 
and Luke, with some additional incidents by 
John. (3) Galilee was the special field for 
the Saviour's ministry, He having traversed 



220 BIBLE MASTERY 

it extensively during this year. He went 
once to Jerusalem (John 5 : 1-2). (4) Itwas 
a year of unusual activity. He journej^ed, 
preached and did many works of mercy. 
It was the period of his greatest popularity, 
and when great crowds followed Him and 
seemed ready to accept him as the Messiah of 
Israel. Yet at the close of the year, He was 
left as before, alone with his twelve disciples 
(John 6: 66-68). 

4. The Year of Opposition that so soon fol- 
lowed the popular response presented another 
strange contrast, (l) It began with the re- 
tirement to Phoenicia (Mark 7 : 24) and ends 
with the Anointing by Mary (John 12 : 1-3. 
(2) It is recorded by all the Gospels. (3) At 
this time Jesus visited all the five provinces 
of Palestine : Decapolis, (a part of the Bashan 
district), Mark 7 : 31 ; Galilee, Mark 9: 30; 
Samaria, Luke 9 : 51, 52 ; Perea, Mark 10:1, 
and Judea, John 11: 7. (4) This part of 
the Saviour's life has been designated as li a 
period of retirement." It was a time when 
he sought to be alone with his disciples that 
he might instruct them in the deep truths of 
the Gospel and prepare them for His ap- 
proaching death and for their mission as 
apostles. Matt 16: 21. 

5. The Week of the Passion is given in de- 
tail, (l) It began with the triumphal entry 



THE LIFE OV CHRIST 221 

on Sunday before the Passover (Luke 22 : 1- 
13), and ended with the Agony in the Garden 
about midnight on Thursday, Matt 26 '• 36, 
and thus embraced, strictly, but five days. 
(2) It is given by all the Gospels, John alone 
adding the teaching given at the Last Supper 
John 13-17. (3) All the events took place 
in or near Jerusalem. (4) It was at this 
time that Christ made his last call to the Jews 
and gave his final rebuke for their rejection 
of his ministry. 

6. The Day of the Crucifixion was the most 
important day in the earth's history, and the 
events are more fully narrated than those of 
any other day in Bible history. It is well 
therefore to study it apart from the rest of the 
week. (1) It began with the Arrest (Matt. 
26 : 47) soon after midnight, Friday A. M., 
and ended about sunset the same day with 
the Burial (Matt. 27:59-60). (2) Each writer 
gives his account, John, an eye-witness, 
being the most complete. (3) The events took 
place in Jerusalem, but few how r ever, if any, 
of the localities are definitely known. Jesus, 
as the Suffering Saviour, bearing the sins of 
the world, is the central figure of this day, 

7. The Forty Days after the Resurrection 
constitute the last period in the earthly life of 
Christ, (l) It began with the resurrection 
early on the first Easter Sunday (Matt. 28: 



222 BIBI.K MASTERY 

1-8) and closed with the Ascension, forty 
days afterward (Acts 1 : 1 -3) . (2) All of the 
gospels record the appearances of the risen 
Saviour, but Luke alone tells the story of 
his ascension (Luke 24: 50, 51; Acts 1: 
9-11). (3) The manifestations of Christ after 
his resurrection took place in and near Jeru- 
salem, near the village of Emmaus (Luke 
24: 13), and in Galilee (Matt. 28 : 16; John 
21: 1). (4) During this period, Christ's 
visible presence was not constant but occa- 
sional ; to his disciples only, never to his 
enemies; and the same also of his spiritual 
body which was freed from the restraints of 
the flesh. (Mark 16 : 12 ; Luke 24 : 31 ; John 
20: 19). 

The Life of Christ According: to Subjects. 

The Sayings and Doings of Our Lord as re- 
corded by the four evangelists may be ar- 
ranged under eight heads and studied with 
great profit. 

/. His Private Life, extending over a period 
of about thirty years and including the fol- 
lowing circumstances : 

(1) The preparation of John the Baptist 
to be his forerunner, of the Virgin Mary to 
be his mother, and of Joseph, to be the guar- 
dian of his infancy and pupilage. 



THK I.IFH OF CHRIST 223 

(2) His Birth in a stable at Bethlehem, 
with the singing of the angels, the visit of 
the shepherds, and his circumcision- 

(3) His Mother's Purification, with the 
open testimonies of Simeon and Anna con- 
cerning him in the temple. 

(4) The Visit of the Magi. 

(5) His flight into Egypt, which was fol- 
lowed by Herrod's slaughter of the Innocents. 

(6) His Return and Settle?nent with his pa- 
rents in Nazareth and Galilee. 

(7) His goi?ig with them to Jerusalem at the 
Passover and questioning with the Doctors, 
whence he returned to Nazareth and subject- 
ing himself to his parents, possibly worked 
w 7 ith them in the trade of carpentry. 

//. His Preparation for the Public Ministry 
in which the following particulars should be 
noted. 

(1) His public baptism in Jordan by John. 

(2) The Testimony of his Father from 
Heaven; ' This is my beloved Son, in whom 
I am well pleased." 

(3) The Descending of the Holy Ghost like 
a dove upon him and his being led into the 
wilderness, 

(4) His Fasting there forty days and forty 
nights. 

(5) His Three Temptations offered him by 
the Devil whom he vanquished. 



224 BIBLE MASTERY 

(6) His Return to Galilee , where he gath- 
ered the disciples, Andrew, Peter, James and 
John, and afterwards Matthew (7) His Ordi- 
nation of the Twelve to be with Him and of 
Seventy to go forth two by two before Him. 

III. His Sermons of which the following 
are the most prominent: 

(1) His Declarations concerning the quali- 
fications of those who aim at blessedness, and 
the means that lead to it. (Matt. 5:3 to 7:27). 

(2) His Sermon to the clergy, instructing 
them what to do, how to teach and what to 
expect (Matt. 10:5-42). 

(3) His Sermon in behalf of the clergy, 
wherein he justifies John the Baptist and his 
doctrine, reproves the perverse and censori- 
ous and invites the meek and lowly to come 
to him (Matt. 11: 7-30). 

(4) His Popular Sermon to the promiscu- 
ous multitude concerning the various effects 
produced by the preaching of the word and 
the necessity for embracing it(Matt. 13:18-23; 
Mark 4:21-25 and Matt, 13:36-52). 

(5) His Sermon for settling differences, 
wherein the authority of the church is as- 
serted, and for instructing with reference to 
the spirit of forgiveness (Matt. 18:3-35). 

(6) His Sermon against the hypocracy of 
the Scribes and Pharisees (Matt. 23:1-39). 



THE LIFE OF CHRIST 225 

(7) His Prophetical Discourse on the de- 
struction of Jerusalem and his own second 
corning (Matt, 24:1-51: 25:1-46). 

(8) His final Discourse with his disciples 
in the upper chamber (John 14:1-31; 15:1-27; 
16:1-33). 

IV. His Conferences with special parties. 

(1) With Nicodemus with whom he dis- 
coursed on the new birth and the necessity 
for believing in him (John 3 :4-21). 

(2) With the Woma?i of Samaria with 
whom he discoursed on living water and 
spiritual worship (John. 4:10 -26). 

(3) With The Pharisees whom he reproved 
for setting aside God's commands by their 
traditions (Matt. 15:1-20). 

(4) With the Sadducees with whom he dis- 
coursed concerning the resurrection (Matt. 
22 : 23-33). 

(5) With the Lawyers to whom he pointed 
out the first and greatest commandment 
(Matt. 22:34-40). 

(6) With the People with whom he spoke 
concerning the bread of life and the spiritual 
Manna (John 6:25-58). 

(7) With His Disciples, whom he reproved 
for struggling for supremacy (L,uke 22:24-30) . 

V. His Miracles maybe arranged acord- 
ing to the places in which they were per- 
formed as follows : 



226 BIBLE MASTERY 

(1) In Ca?ia of Galilee, the water made 
wine and the healing of the nobleman's son. 

(2) On The Sea of Galilee, the first draught 
of fishes, the stilling of the tempest, the 
walking on the sea, the fish with the tribute 
money and the second draught of fishes. 

(3/ hi Capernaum, the raising of Jairus' 
daughter, the stopping of the issue of blood, 
the healing of the the two blind men, of the 
dumb demoniac, the paralytic, the leper, the 
centurion's servant, the man with the un- 
clean spirit, the mother of Peter's wife, and 
the blind and dumb demoniac. 

(4) In Galilee^ the raising of the son of the 
widow of Nain, the healing of the woman 
with an eighteen years' infirmity, of the man 
with the dropsy, of the lunatic child at the 
foot of the mount of transfiguration and of 
the daughter of the Syro -Phoenician women. 

(5) Beyond Jordan, the dispossessing of the 
demoniacs, the feeding of the five thousand 
at Decapolis, the deaf and dumb healed and 
the four thousand fed there, and the healing 
of the blind man at Bethsaida. 

(6) In Samaria, the cleansing of the ten 
lepers. 

(7) In Jerusalem the giving sight to the 
man born blind, the healing of the ear of 
Malchus in Gethsemane, and the fig tree 
withered on Olivet. 



THE UFE OF CHRIST 227 

(8) In Judea the withered hand restored, 
the healing of the impotent man at Bethesda 
and the raising of Lazarus at Bethany. 

(9) In Jericho, the healing of the one blind 
man and of the two blind men. 

VI. The Parables of our Lord may be di- 
vided according to the places where they were 
delivered. 

(1) In Capernaum, the Sower, the Tares, 
the Seed growing secretly, the Mustard Seed, 
the Leaven, the Hid Treasure, the Pearl, the 
Draw -net, the two Debtors, and the Unmer- 
ciful Servant. 

(2) In Galilee, the Lost Sheep, the Rich 
Fool, the Servants waiting for their Lord, 
the Barren Fig Tree, the Great Supper, the 
Lost Piece of Money, the Prodigal Son, the 
Unjust Steward, the Rich Man and Lazarus, 
and the Unprofitable Servant. 

(3) In Jericho, the Good Samaritan and the 
Pounds. 

(4) In Perea, the Unjust Judge, the Phari- 
see and the Publican, and the Laborers in the 
Vineyard. 

(5) In Jerusalem, the Door and the Sheep 
fold, the Two Sons, the Wicked Husbandman, 
the Marriage Feast or Wedding Garment, the 
Ten Virgins, the Talents, the Sheep and the 
Goats, and the True Vine, 



228 BIBL.H MASTERY 

VII. His Sufferings were endured in the 
following places: (l) In Gethsemane. 

(2) At the betrayal by Judas and the ap- 
prehension by the officers and multitude. 

(3) Before A?mas and Caiaphas. 

(4) In the House of Herod Antipas. 

(5) In the Praetor ium of Pilate. 

(6) In the Crowning with thorns, the spit- 
ting upon, the scourging, and the bearing 
his own cross. 

(7) At Calvary , in the crucifixion, the 
Mockings, the reviling, the gall and Vinegar, 
and the hands and feet pierced with nails. 

Our Lord' s Sayings on the cross were sev- 
en and uttered as follows : 

1. Prayer for enemies (L,uke 23:34). 

2. Reply to penitent thief (Luke 23:43). 

3. Concerning His Mother (John 19:26- 
27). 

4. The Mysterious Cry (Matt. 27:46; Mark 
15:34). 

5. Exclamation from torture (John 19: 28). 

6. The Trumpet Shout (John 19:30.) 

7. The Cry of Confidence (Iyuke 23:46). 

VIII. His triumphs which succeeded his 
sufferings were as follows: 

(1) Over principalities and powers of dark- 
ness. 

(2) Over death and the grave by his resur- 
rection. 



THE LIFE OF CHRIST 229 

(3) Over all oppositions and impediments 
by his forty days conversing with the apos- 
tles in ten definite appearances (Acts 1:3). 

(4) In commissioning his apostles to teach 
and baptize all nations in the name of the most 
sacred Trinity, Father. Son and Holy Gkost. 

(5) In Trampling the World under foot by 
his own most glorious ascension. 

(6) By Ruling in the midst of his enemies 
by the rod of his strength. 

(7) Finally by sending the Holy Ghost as 
the means for the propagation of the Gospel. 

PERIOD SEVER 

The Apostolic Church* 

The Church of God has been the same body 
under the several dispensations. Pious per- 
sons have in every age possessed the same 
true religion, and been members of the same 
church of the living God. Abel, Abraham 
and Moses belonged to the same church with 
Peter, John and Paul, and they to the same 
with christians of to day. The dispensations 
have changed, but the church has remained 
the same. The earliest dispensation was the 
Patriarchal, This w r as succeeded by the 
Mosaic dispensation, which commenced at 
Sinai, at the giving of the Law, and contin- 
ued till the Gospel dispensation which began 
at the death of Christ and holds now, and 



230 BIBLE MASTERY 

will continue till the church militant has 
passed into the church triumphant. Christ 
came to purge his floor, not to destroy it. 
(Matt. 3: 12 ; Rom. 11: 17). 

The Christia?i Chutch under the apostles 
may be traced in two directions, — the one 
Jewish, the other Gentile. The Jewish line 
for the most part follows the track of the 
twelve apostles, while the Gentile, that of 
Paul. The earlier part of the Book of the 
Acts presents chiefly the one; the later 
chiefly the other. 

This early church may be studied, for 
clearness, under three heads : 

1. The Church of Jerusalem, covering the 
period from the ascension to Stephen's mar- 
tyrdom. Jerusalem was the first scene of 
the labors of the apostles. They tarried in 
this place in obedience to the divine command. 
(Acts 1:4; Luke 24: 49). 

The Principal Events', (l) The choice of 
Matthias to take the place made vacant by 
Judas (Acts 1). (2) The day of Pentecost. 
This day marked the beginning of the Chris- 
tian church and the wonderful manifestation 
of the power of the Holy Ghost (Acts 2). (3) 
The first sermon (Acts 2). (4) The first 
baptism (Acts 2: 41). (5) Oppos ; tion to 
the Jews. - Officers sent from the Sanhedrim 
to apprehend the apostles (Acts 4: 3).^ (6) 



THE I.IFK OF CHRIST 231 

Peter's boldness astonished the members of 
the Sanhedrim (Acts 4: 13). (7) Appoint- 
ment of the first deacons (Acts 6:1-6). (8) 
Stephen's martyrdom (Acts 7: 60). This 
act was the signal for a fierce persecution, 
and the church was scattered abroad. 

2. The Church of Palestine, from the mar- 
tyrdom of Stephen to the call of Paul to his 
missionary work among the Gentiles. From 
the persecution the disciples fled in different 
directions but the apostles remained in Jeru- 
salem. 

The Principal Events, (l) The Samaritans 
received the gospel by Philip (Acts 8 : 1-14), 
(2) The Ethiopian Eunuch is converted and 
baptized (Acts 8: 27-40). (3) Saul is con- 
verted (Acts 9: 1-22). (4) The gospel is 
preached to the Gentiles (Acts 10 and 11). 
(The conversion of Cornelius and the vision 
of Peter). (5) Peter is arrested and delivered 
from prison (Acts 12). 

3. The Church of the Ge?itiles began with 
the call of Paul to the missionary work of his 
life and has not yet closed (Acts 13-28 ; ex- 
cepting only the record of the apostolic 
council). 

Paul's Three Missionary Jour?ieys. The 
first with Barnabas and John Mark, start- 
ing from Antioch, in Syria, and visiting 
Sileucia, Cyprus, Salamis, Paphos, Perga, 



232 BIBLE MASTKRY 

Antioch, in Pisidia, Iconium, L,ystra, Derbe, 
Perga and back to Antioch. (2) The second 
journey with Silas, starting from Antioch, in 
Syria, and visiting Syria, Cilicia, Derbe and 
L,ystra, confirming the churches; Phrygia 
and Galatia, Mysia, Troas, Neapolis, Phil- 
ippi, Thessalonica, Berea, Athens, Corinth, 
Ephesus, Caesarea and back to Antioch, 
where he remained nearly a year. (3) The 
third journey with Timothy, from Antioch, 
in Syria, to Galatia and Phrygia, Ephesus, 
Macedonia, Greece, Philippi, Troas, Assos, 
Mitylene, Trogyllium, Miletus, Patara, Tyre, 
Ptolemais, Caesarea to Jerusalem. Paul was 
imprisoned and sent from Caesarea to Rome 
to be tried. The Book of the Acts ends with 
the first imprisonment in Rome. 

The Epistles are letters written to the 
churches for the purpose of explaining and 
setting forth the doctrines and duties of the 
Christian religion and to correct abuses that 
sprang up from the contact of the churches 
with the surrounding heathenism, They 
were directed to particular churches. These 
churches either sent the originals or copies of 
them to their sister churches. 

The Church, (l) Its head (Eph. 1 : 22 ; 5 : 
23). (2) Its members (Heb. 12: 22, 23; 
Eph. 2 : 19, 20). (3) Its organization (Eph. 
4:12, 15). (4) Its object (Eph. 4:11, 16). 



INSTITUTIONS OF THE BIBI.E 233 

THE INSTITUTIONS OF THE BIBLE 

In studying the institutions of the Bible 
we should keep in mind the purpose for which 
they were established, and the thing which 
they commemorate, anticipate or propagate. 
We will find in these a gradual unfolding of 
the idea of the great scheme of redemption. 
Preparatory to the Christian Church we notice 
four great institutions, each related to the 
other, and all united in a progressive order. 

These are : — 

/. The Altar was the earliest institution 
for worship. Its origin is unknown but it 
was early sanctioned by divine approval 
(Gen. 4:3, 4; 8:20; 12, 8). It was made of 
rough unhewn stone (Ex, 20 : 24-25). The 
offerings were of five kinds. 

(1) Sin offering. 

(2) Burnt offering. 

(3) Trespass offering. 

(4) Meat offering, 

(5) Peace offering. 

//. The Tabernacle, a movable tent first set 
up at Mt. Sinai was an outgrowth of the al- 
tar, and was carried with the Israelites all 
through their desert wanderings. It had a 
holy place, a holy of holies, an altar for 
burnt offerings, a laver, candlestick, table, 



234 BIBX,K MASTERY 

an altar of incense, and surrounding the whole 
was an open place enclosed by curtains (Ex. 
25 and 26). 

///. The Temple , built after the same gen- 
eral plan as the Tabernacle, was a grand per- 
manent dwelling built for God. There were 
three temples: Solomon's, Zerubbabel's, and 
Herod's. 

IV. The Synagogue forms an important link 
between the Church of the Old Testameat 
and that of the New, and greatly aided in 
preparing the way for the Gospel. It arose 
during the captivity, when the temple was in 
ruins and the sacrifices were in abeyance. It 
is believed to have been a part of the Jewish 
system organized by Ezra, B. C. 440. It was 
established wherever the Jews were located. 
There were in Jerusalem alone 460 syna- 
gogues, so that every nationality of Jews had 
its own (Acts 22 :19). 

Every Synagogue contained an "ark," chief 
seats, a desk for the reader, places for wor- 
shipers, according to rank, and a lattice gal- 
lery where women could worship without 
being seen. 

The Officers of the synagogue were: (l) 
Three rulers of the synagogue. (2) The 
chazzan (Luke„4:20, "the minister"), who 
was the clerk, schoolmaster, sexton, etc. (3) 



INSTITUTIONS OF THE BIBLE 235 

The batlanim, ten men chosen to be present 
at every service to act as a legal congregation. 

Its Services were on Saturday, Monday 
and Thursday, and were conducted by the 
members in turn, several taking part in each 
service, (l) There were forms of prayer and 
with responses. (2) There were readings 
from the law and prophets. (3) There were 
expositions or comments upon the scripture 

Its Influence was wide spread in perpetuat- 
ing the worship of God and uniting the wor- 
shipers in more thoughtful and spiritual wor- 
ship than the elaborate ritual of the temple. 
It promoted the study of the Old Testament 
and attracted the devout and intelligent 
among the Gentiles, many of whom became 
worshipers of God (Acts 10: 1-2), and it 
greatly aided the early Christian teachers by 
preparing a place, a plan of service and a 
system of organization. 

The Sacred Year is a term which refers to 
certain periodical institutions , such as: 

(1) The Sabbath , observed one day in seven. 

(2) The New Moo?i which was opening day 
of each month. 

(3) The Seven Annual Solemnities, six 
feasts and one fast day. 

(4) The Sabbatical Year , one year in every 
seven (Iyev. 25 : 2-7). 

(5) The Year of Jubilee y once in fifty years. 



236 BIBI,E MASTERY 

V. The Christian Church represents the 
highest stage in the development of Worship. 
From the altar we come through the taber- 
nacle, the temple, the synagogue, and from 
the formalism of earlier times to a spiritual 
worship. 

The Two Sacraments ol the Christian Church 
are Baptism (Matt. 28 : 19), and the ford's 
Supper (I Cor. 11: 25-26). 

There are Institutions , personal and official 
named in the Bible, each of which represents 
an epoch in the history of redemption. 

1. The Priests were man's agents in ap- 
proach to God. In the earliest age each head 
of a family was the priest ; thus Noah, Abra- 
ham, Melchizedek offered sacrifices (Gen. 
12: 8). 

The Priestly Family was of Aaron, of the 
tribe of Levi, set apart for the priestly office 
at the time of the exodus, and this family 
remained a priestly caste until the destruction 
of the Jewish state (Exod. 28: l). They 
were the attendants at the sacrifice, and were 
also expected to be teachers of God's will to 
men. They carried the needs of the people 
to God. Their support was to come from a 
tax upon the people, from the perquisites of 
the sacrifices, with certain cities set apart for 
their residences. 



INSTITUTIONS OF THF; B1BLK 237 

2. The Prophets were possessed with direct 
divine inspiration and were recognized as 
representatives of divine authority. They 
were God's messengers to the people. 

3. The Scribes arose with the synagogue, 
when the written Word began to take the 
place of the inspired teacher. They were 
students and interpreters of the law of God, 
and spoke not by inspiration upon the 
authority of the scripture. The founder was 
Ezra (Kz 7:6). 

The Apostles were the original founders of 
the Christian church, and eye-witnesses of 
His life, death and resurrection. 

Notk. —-Part Third gi ve s illustrative stu- 
dies in the Bible, and is complete in itself. 
These studies are arranged with the view of 
making practical use of the Bible in Christian 
life and work. 



238 



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ISRAELITISH KINGDOM 



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Consults Witch. 

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In Saul's Court. 
Victory over Goliath. 
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King- of Israel: 33 yrs. 
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Sin and Repentance. 
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Plans for Temple. 
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Apostasy. 
Death. 


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Hiram. 
Queen of Sheba 



240 



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241 





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Jonah. 

II Kings 9- 
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1. Omri, Evil, 12 years. 

2. Ahab, Evil, 22 years. 




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1. Jehu. Evil, 28 years. 

2. Jehoahaz, Evil, 17 years, 

3. Johoash, Evil. 

4. Jeroboam II. Evil, 41 years. 

5. Zechariah, Evil, 6 months. 


ALLIANCE. 
INTERMARRIAGE. 


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6. Ahaziah, Evil, 1 years. 
Athaliah (Usurper), 

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8. Amaziah, Good, 29 years. 

9. Uzziah, Good, 52 years. 


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1. Shallum, Evil, 1 year. 


HOUSE OF MENAHEM. 

1. Men ahem, Evil, 10 years. 

2. Pekahiah, Evil, 2 years. 


HOUSE OF PEKAH. 
1. Pekah, Evil, 20 years. 


HOUSE OF HOSHEA. 
1. Hoshea, Evil, 9 years. 


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MONARCHY OF JUDAH 



243 





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II Chronicles, 29-36 

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Re-establishes Worship. 
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In captivity at Babylon. 
Repentance. 


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Book of Law found. 
Idols destroyed. 


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Prophets despised. 

Destruction of Temple 
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Final Captivity of Baby- 
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244 



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